


Flowers and Blue Skies

by novaartinoisaqueen



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, F/M, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Multi, Slow Burn, catra is really into art, mature language, they both play soccer
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:47:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 63,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25509985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/novaartinoisaqueen/pseuds/novaartinoisaqueen
Summary: Horde High and Bright Moon High have been rival schools for years. Due to the growing hatred between the two student bodies, the schools create an exchange program, sending volunteer students to attend the rival school for a year so they can experience life in one another’s shoes.Three years ago, Adora’s friendship with Catra ended horribly when Adora was taken in by her only existing family and forced to switch schools. Now a senior, she’s on a promising path to college with near perfect grades and a shining spot on the school’s soccer team, but when Catra transfers as part of the exchange program, her vision for the future grows foggy.Catra needs all the money she can grab in order to get her to college and out of the tight grasp of her foster mother, Shannon Weaver. The scholarship offered through the exchange program, while not appealing, could seriously help her. She doesn’t care that Adora is practically the school’s sweetheart, or that they have two classes together. She doesn’t. Her only goal is to graduate and get to college.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra)
Comments: 93
Kudos: 271





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> once upon a time i told myself i would never write a high school au. then quarantine happened.
> 
> special thank you to stylampa on tumblr, who (stupidly) agreed to be my beta for this. she has amazing artwork posted on her tumblr and instagram, so definitely check it out! 
> 
> *note: this is a re-upload from the original author. i took it down to change a few things.

_ The first thing Adora noticed upon exiting the doors of her middle school was the heat. She was pushed forward into it as the entire student body shoved their way out of the cold, life-sucking building. It was refreshing at first, but the further she walked, the more she was in direct sunlight, and all too quickly did it become annoying. But she wasn’t going to let that ruin today. _

_ “High schoolers, bitch!” An arm slung around her shoulders, pulling Adora close. She shifted the small bag in her arms, the only thing the school had allowed students to bring to school that day. There had been a ban on backpacks on the last day of school for years now, after the school got sick of students bringing things like air horns or silly string or something that would make a good prank. It still didn’t stop many of them from stuffing ridiculous things in their lockers or in their Pink bras.  _

_ “I can’t believe we’re done.” Adora laughed at Catra’s words, despite the teachers on duty outside shooting the two of them dirty frowns for such language, as if they had never heard a bad word in their life. “Seems like just yesterday we were walking the stage at fifth grade graduation, right?”  _

_ An indignant sound sprung from Catra’s throat. She shoved Adora lightly. “Don’t remind me. Those were dark times.”  _

_ “You’re just upset because Ms. Weaver forced you into a dress,” Adora teased.  _

_ Catra snorted. “You’re one to talk. Don’t think I’ve forgotten that ridiculous thing that looked like Tinker Bell had thrown up on it. I have the pictures to prove it.” The ‘thing’ in question was a sparkly vomit-green dress that Adora had insisted upon wearing after seeing it in a catalogue. Her fashion choices weren’t exactly God tier back then. _

_ Adora unraveled her arm from Catra’s waist, where it had gone instinctively, to push her off the sidewalk and into the grass. Catra stumbled for a moment, then retaliated with a laugh. Adora was lucky she had enough balance to avoid falling in front of one of the cars lined up waiting on their kid. The last thing she wanted was to get hit by some entitled parent who just had to pick up their precious baby on their last day of school instead of making them ride the bus like everyone else.  _

_ Her phone buzzed in her pocket. Adora pulled it out reluctantly to answer the text from one of their friends, Lonnie. The device was an ancient thing, a true embarrassment compared to the sleek new iPhone’s some of her classmates had. To text someone, Adora had to slide it open and press down on actual buttons. The thing could only call and text, and she had a limited amount of both. She was grateful Ms. Weaver had even gotten her a phone, but it still didn’t make whipping it out in all it’s mid 2000s glory any less humiliating. Once she got a job, she’d save up for a real phone. Because that’s what teenagers in high school did: get a job and act like adults. She had already found one where she could ref for kid’s sports, and the starting pay wasn’t too shabby for a fifteen year old who just finished middle school. Yeah, she didn’t like to think about being held back in kindergarten.  _

_ “Lonnie said she and the boys have to run home for a minute. Kyle forgot his money.” Adora hid the phone in her pocket again. Catra nodded and grabbed her iPod Touch from the front pocket of her ripped up jeans. After Ms. Weaver bought her a phone for her birthday, as she did with all of her wards as a way to keep track of them once they turned fourteen, Catra wasted no time in finding a parent who wanted the archaic technology so they could keep up with their fifth grader at all times. It hadn’t gotten her a lot of money, but she had been saving up prior, and used all of it to buy the iPod. Ms. Weaver had been livid, but when did Catra care? The thing could only text on WiFi and didn’t have a call feature, so it was basically untrackable.  _

_ Catra pulled up Instagram and scrolled through her feed while they walked, leeching off of the school’s WiFi while they were still in range. A pang of jealousy hit Adora’s chest. Social media was strictly forbidden under Ms. Weaver’s roof, yet somehow, Catra still got away with it. At least she had some sympathy for Adora and would show her memes or Vines she found to be funny.  _

_ They were headed toward Dairy Queen, which was only a few blocks away from the middle school. It was a popular hangout for kids their age, and their friend group had been going there on the last day of school for three years now. Adora had been looking forward to it all week; Ms. Weaver was never keen on letting any of them make stops on their way home after school, but this was one of the only days where she lightened up. Probably because Adora had begged her so much during sixth grade that she was tired of arguing over it. They were only allowed an hour after school ended to get their ice cream and head home, which really didn’t leave them with much time, but it was still fun nonetheless.  _

_ “How are you able to wear those.” Adora kicked at Catra’s ankle, drawing the girl’s attention. She scowled, and Adora noticed the thin sheen of sweat along her forehead and under her eyes, smearing her black eyeliner. Jeans in this heat, especially black jeans, were no better than a death sentence.  _

_ “They’re more comfortable than wearing something stupid like that.” Catra nodded toward Adora’s long t-shirt that covered her Nike shorts and her Jandals with long white socks. “You look like some fucking white girl tourist who’s pissed that Starbucks gave her regular milk instead of almond milk.” _

_ Adora rolled her eyes. Excuse her for just keeping up with the trends. Catra hated the way she dressed, which was no shock, considering Catra was the epitome of a Tumblr emo child. At least Adora hadn’t put highlights in her hair yet or caked makeup on her face like some girls did.  _

_ “Hey, Adora!” A voice cried out from the window of a car that passed the two of them walking. It was one of their peers from athletics, Veronica, that Adora had some classes with and got along with well. “Oh! Hi, Catra,” she added sheepishly, though not as enthusiastic, before disappearing back into the vehicle. Adora waved as it passed them.  _

_ “Hey, Adora,” Catra teased in a light, mocking voice. She rolled her eyes and groaned. “Ugh. Give me a break.”  _

_ “She was just being nice,” Adora chastised. “Something you could learn to do better at.”  _

_ Catra called her a derogatory term that was only acceptable for women to say to one another, then took off running. “Bet I can beat you there! Loser has to pay!” _

_ Everything was always a competition with her. A fluttery feeling ghosted across Adora’s belly, and she let out a laugh. It didn’t take long for her to catch up to her friend, though she had to really push to stay side by side. Catra was naturally fast, something Adora always envied about her. But right now, she wasn’t complaining much, and even slowed down every now and then to put a few steps between the two of them. Her eyes couldn’t help but follow Catra’s wild hair, flying around in the wind. They traced down her running form, a blush rising on Adora’s cheeks.  _

_ Catra shrieked with delight as they neared the fast food place, already beginning to fill up with other middle schoolers that had the same idea as them. Adora took in her ecstatic, carefree state, something that was a blessing to behold these days. Since the seventh grade, Catra decided that smiling and being happy on a daily basis were overrated; any joy Adora got to witness was like a breath of fresh air, and mostly reserved for only her. And Catra’s laugh was so contagious. She loved it.  _

_ Catra won, as expected, but Adora didn’t care. She was too overrun with emotions. A new life was on the horizon for them. High school, if it was anything like the movies, was going to be the best part of their lives. Adora thought of parties and football games and dating and driving and a million other fantasies that had plagued her mind ever since she watched her first rom-com a few years ago. High school was happiness and freedom. With Catra by her side, Adora was practically buzzing with anticipation.  _

_ She couldn’t wait for August.  _

* * *

“The pink one.” Adora sipped her iced coffee and pushed through the rack of swim suits in front of her. They were all too frilly and bright and revealing. Adora had a chest, but not the kind needed for some of these bikini tops. 

Glimmer held up the swim suit to her body and turned toward the mirror. She did a few poses, as though imagining herself in the attire before trying it on. “Are you sure? I’m not really used to wearing these kinds of bottoms.” A hand went to her curvy hips. It was true; she usually went with high waisted suits. 

It was Friday afternoon, approximately forty five minutes after the bell rang, signaling the end of junior year for Adora and her friends. She and Glimmer bee lined to the outlet mall, wanting to beat the crowd of teens that were already showing up. Normally, they would hang out with their friend group on the last day, but there was a big end-of-year party that night at Sea Hawk’s place, and neither girl owned a bathing suit. Well, they did, but the ones in their closets didn’t fit them the same as they had the year before. In Glimmer’s case, she had become a bit more curvy, so she needed a new suit that wouldn’t suffocate her. In Adora’s case, she had shot up a couple inches that year, a final growth spurt as the doctor said, and gone up a bra size. The last bit was secretly satisfying, as she thought of all the dreadful years she spent with a flat chest. 

“It’s cute.” Adora shrugged. “And compliments your hair.” Glimmer ran a hand through her dyed strands. “Just try it on.” 

Glimmer didn’t look convinced, but she nodded and added it to her small pile of suits in her arm. “Any luck?” 

Adora pulled out a random suit and held it up for Glimmer to see. It was probably the skimpiest thing Adora could’ve grabbed, making it that much funnier. One jump in the pool with this thing on and Adora’s modesty would be tarnished for good. The animal print was an added bonus. Glimmer snorted. She turned her gaze to a different rack, eyes lighting up. 

“What about this?” She held out a simple red top with a scoop neckline. It was the first one Adora saw that wouldn’t show off her cleavage. It would have to do. 

Twenty minutes later, they walked out of American Eagle into the blazing sunshine with twin shopping bags. Adora ended up buying the suit with some plain black swim bottoms that were identical to her multiple pairs of running shorts. They were more comfortable than the bottoms she had tried on in the store that showed far more cheek than she was comfortable with. She checked the time on her Apple Watch, surprised to find it was only two in the afternoon. There was an unopened text from Mara, her aunt, on the small screen in response to the photo Adora sent of herself in the suit. She’d open it in the car. It was probably positive, as most of Mara’s texts were. 

“It’s weird to think that we’re seniors now, right?” There was a small hop in Glimmer’s strides. Barely reaching five feet and three inches, the shorter girl could easily pass as a ninth grader. But Adora would never tell her that. 

“Yeah. Razz and Mara are already badgering me about college.” A fond smile overcame her lips thinking about her aunt and grandmother. She had only known them for four years now, but she loved them dearly. After all, they were her only living family. A hand ghosted over the ring hanging at her throat, a gold band with a brilliant blue stone at its center. It was all she had left of her parents, of her past, besides Razz and Mara. 

Glimmer groaned loudly. “Don’t remind me of college. Mom tears up just about anytime I say the word ‘senior’. She’s probably going to make me go somewhere nearby so I can live at home.” 

Adora chuckled. Glimmer’s mom was probably the most protective mother she had ever met, and was also the principal of Bright Moon. Being the daughter of the principal at a well known school wasn’t always great, according to Glimmer.

They crossed the street, headed towards the Barnes and Noble that had two entrances on opposite sides. They were parked on the other end, so it was a convenient shortcut in this heat. Honestly, Adora was sure the bookstore only remained open these days because people used it as she and Glimmer did, and as a hang out spot in the café. 

She sighed in relief at the rush of cool air that hit her body upon entering the building. It was mainly quiet other than the slapping of sandals on heels and the Phantom of the Opera soundtrack playing on the speakers. The majority of the people in the store were older, with the occasional flock of eager middle schoolers who just had to travel as a group of thirty. Adora smiled at the familiarity of it, remembering how on top of the world she had felt back then too. How hanging out at the mall was a rite of passage, and how cool it felt to loiter around stores with fifty of your closest friends. Nowadays, she was just a tired and stressed teen ready for high school to be over. 

“So, you know how the school is doing that exchange program with Horde, right?” Glimmer glanced at Adora, who nodded slowly. The two high schools were town rivals, and not in a friendly competition sort of way. The students from both schools had a history of hostility toward each other. It had been a long running rivalry, dating back even to when Glimmer’s mom was a student at Bright Moon, and apparently the faculties at both schools and the district were sick of the fighting. Adora had laughed when it was announced a few weeks back that the two schools were coming together for an exchange program of sorts. 

The idea was simple: Volunteers from all grade levels would switch schools for the year, and if they had a good two semesters with no problems, they would be rewarded with a small scholarship to help with the cost of college. The execution was a little more complicated. Not many people from Bright Moon wanted to switch over to Horde, and for good reason. Adora had experienced the schools that fed into Horde and caught a glimpse at that high school life before being uprooted and carted across town when Razz and Mara found her four years ago. Despite being in the same town, the culture was vastly different at both schools, and even diffused into the communities. Bright Moon was a much better and nicer school than Horde could ever be; Adora was glad she moved before receiving the full experience there. 

“Yeah. I feel bad for anyone whose parents are making them do it.” Because that was the only valid reason a Bright Moon student would switch. “Honestly, how do they expect this thing to go smoothly? I bet these new students will try to set the school on fire the first week we’re back.” 

Glimmer snorted. “You’re not worried? I figured you would be, considering—”

“Watch it!” Glimmer gasped and tripped over her own feet trying to back up. They were so caught up in their conversation that they nearly ran into—

Oh, God. Speak of the devil. 

“Catra.” Adora paled for a moment. Her initial shock was quickly replaced with a carefully guarded smirk. “This is the last place I’d expect to see you. Let me guess, summer school?” Saying the words hurt, as Adora knew Catra was smarter than she let on, really smart in fact, but this was their reality these days. Had been since the ninth grade when Catra decided their ten years of friendship no longer meant anything to her. 

Catra narrowed her eyes at the two of them, at their dripping iced coffees and shopping bags and cut off shorts and the keys to Glimmer’s white Jeep Wrangler, all things Adora knew she couldn’t stand. “Hey, Adora.” Her lips curled into a smirk, having seemingly forgotten that Glimmer’s macchiato had nearly ended up all over her cropped white tank. Adora flushed at seeing her toned midriff. “Funny seeing you two here. Don’t you have some party to go get wasted at?” 

Adora bit the inside of her cheek. She held her bag a bit closer to her body. “Some of us actually care about our reputations. I wouldn’t expect you to understand.” She had never in her life had an ounce of alcohol enter her body, and she wanted to keep it that way. Too much was at stake for her to go and mess up. 

Catra scoffed. “C’mon, like you don’t have money that can just cover it up? We get it, you’re better than the rest of us.” She crossed her arms, a devious look overcoming her features. “I thought that was your voice I heard a few minutes ago. What was that about the exchange program?” 

Could her face get any redder? God. She suddenly felt bad for talking smack about her former classmates. They hadn’t all been bad. “Still listening to private conversations, huh?” 

“Only when I’m concerned.” She examined her nails, long black acrylics that ended in a sharp point. 

“What are you talking about?” Glimmer frowned at her. Catra probably hated the girl more than she hated Adora, always had and always would. 

Catra reached forward and tucked a strand of Glimmer's hair behind her ear, just to get a reaction. Glimmer slapped her hand away and stepped back. Catra simply laughed. “We should get going. See you in August, Princesses.” She breezed past them, purposefully shoving her shoulder into Adora’s and stepping on her bare toes with the heel of her Dr. Martens. 

Adora didn’t even realize she wasn’t alone until Scorpia spoke up, still in front of them. “It was nice to see you guys!” she chirped. Scorpia honestly wasn’t that bad. She was a great player on the field, a tough and determined one. She had always been nice, though, and gave great hugs. “I love that top, by the way, Ad—”

“Scorpia!” Catra snapped, her voice already far behind Adora. Scorpia’s eyes widened, and she waved a quick goodbye before jogging to meet her friend. How did someone like Scorpia become friends with Catra? Well, Adora was one to talk. 

“What did she mean?” Glimmer demanded as they started toward the exit again. Her eyebrows were knit together in concentration, how they always did when she was upset. Suddenly, she gasped and gripped Adora’s arm, stopping them both. Adora nearly dropped her drink. “Holy shit, you don’t think…?” 

Adora blinked. What? She figured Catra was just trying to get under her skin again and ignored her taunts. That’s all Catra was, anyway. All bark and no bite. At least for the most part. 

Glimmer grumbled something about Adora having a thick head, which didn’t really offend her since it wasn’t meant to truly be rude, then took a deep breath. “You don’t think she volunteered for the program, do you?” 

That was like a slap to the face. “No,” she said immediately, not even thinking twice. Catra would never willingly go to a school like Bright Moon after years of trash talking it and the students. Her pride mattered more to her, whatever she perceived pride to be. Then again, it was exactly like Catra to do whatever she could to make Adora’s life a living hell, even at the expense of her own wellbeing. She would jump at an opportunity like this, just to be close to Adora every day and ruin her life. Adora faltered. “I…I don’t know. I guess it’s possible?” 

Glimmer yanked her phone out of her pocket, the latest iPhone model, and started typing away furiously. Her first target was probably her mother, who would have a list of all the students transferring, and then Bow, the third member of the Best Friend Squad, and then the large group chat with all of their friends who knew a good deal of gossip about the town of Etheria. 

Adora’s fingers grew numb, but not from the coffee. Suddenly, the thought of senior year no longer excited her. What if Catra was actually transferring to Bright Moon? Would she and Adora have classes together? Probably not, seeing as Adora was mostly in AP and Catra never took advanced courses in middle school, having never cared about school. But...she still played soccer, and seemed to have made it her objective to never let Adora have a good game when the two schools went head to head. If she transferred and made the team, and with her skills, she would, Adora would have to see her for sure every single day, and would have to put up with her every morning for their workouts. 

For not being all that religious, Adora was now praying to every known deity that this nightmare wouldn’t become reality.


	2. Part 1: Back to School

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> senior year kicks off, and adora and catra learn they share not just their athletics period together, but an actual class.
> 
> to celebrate a successful first week, mermista hosts a party while her dad’s out of town. and she invited catra. against adora’s wishes.

_Math really wasn’t that bad of a subject, but it was the worst period of the day when the teacher was a major stick in the ass. And also when your best friend was too busy talking with people on the volleyball team with her to take her seat._

_Catra picked at the edge of the paper Mrs. Reeds passed out the second people walked in the door. She fished out a pencil and immediately got to work doodling in the margins. Honestly, who came up with the idea to waste so much space on paper? What purpose did it serve other than the aesthetic? Well, whatever. It gave Catra a place to destress, as she wasn’t allowed to take out her drawing pad anymore in this class. Caught one too many times sneaking little sketches here and there. It didn’t bother Catra much, really, seeing as she rarely pulled her pad out while in school unless she had an insatiable itch to sketch something down._

_Adora laughed from across the room. Under normal circumstances, her laugh would bring a smile to Catra’s face, send her heart rate skyrocketing, boost her ego times ten. Now, though, she just slumped lower in her seat and continued her doodle of Kermit the frog._

_When they got their schedules at orientation over the summer, the two girls had been ecstatic to finally have a class together after having nothing in sixth grade. Adora took the fancy Pre-AP courses the school offered to its more advanced and driven students while Catra stuck to regular, not seeing the difference in the levels, but she was terrible at math and science, so she stuck to taking those at the regular level._

_It was all fun and games until Adora learned that some of her volleyball teammates would be in the class as well. Catra had tried out for the team, but she was a terrible player, cursed to only be good at gymnastics and soccer, and even more screwed over when she was only allowed to do one. Adora, perfect at every sport thrown her way since she was five years old and missing her front teeth, easily made the A Team, leaving Catra behind to workout every day in “off-season” as the coaches called it, impatiently waiting for soccer to start._

_Adora had always been too nice for her own good, the prime example of a people pleaser and kisser of asses, so she had made quick friends with the other girls who made the team. Suddenly, Adora was hogging up the wall phone all the wards of Ms. Weaver shared that sat in the hallway outside their bedroom, going over to people’s houses for sleepovers on Friday nights, coming home from school much later than practice had ended because some of the girls wanted to go to a coffee house within walking distance of the school._

_Catra tried not to show her frustration, tried to be supportive of her best friend, but it was hard. And it was only October._

_“Hey.” A hand tousled Catra’s hair affectionately, the person it belonged to finally taking her seat. Catra casually laid an arm across her sketch, hiding it, and scowled at Adora._

_“I worked hard on my hair this morning, bitch,” she lied smoothly, pretending to be annoyed._

_Adora snorted. “Yeah. Uh huh, sure.” She reached down into her bag to fish something out. “Hey, did you finish the homework last night? I meant to ask you before we went to bed. Number thirty-seven makes absolutely no sense.”_

_She slid her homework packet over onto Catra’s desk, the movement shy. Catra eyed her for a long moment, up until she pulled out the puppy eyes and annoyingly adorable little pout. Catra’s stomach fluttered, and she averted her gaze to hide her blush._

_She could never be mad at Adora. No matter how hard she tried._

_“This isn’t because I like you.” That earned her a bright smile._

_Scooting closer, she began explaining the problem to Adora while working it out for her. Every now and then, she stole glances at her friend, breath hitching in her throat at the way she chewed at her bottom lip and frowned at Catra’s work. To her, Catra might as well have been speaking a different language, judging from the look of complete and utter confusion on her face. But that was okay. Catra would just do the problem for her and any other problem she asked for help on. Because that’s what she did, what she would always do._

_Anything for Adora._

* * *

_“I just don’t understand why you’re this upset! We see each other every day!”_

_Catra groaned and rolled over in her bed, shoving her pillow over her ear in an attempt to block out the voice from below._

_“Catra, come on!” A pause. “I’m sorry, okay? We can go to the park on Sunday, if you want.”_

_“Go to the park with your new best friends!” Catra shot back, voice muffled by the pillow. “Since that’s all you care about anymore.”_

_No answer._

_They had made plans earlier in the week to go to the park across the street on Saturday morning and play some soccer between the two of them, since it had been a while since either girl had touched a soccer ball, and the season was quickly approaching. But then one of the girls Adora sometimes hung out with outside of school and sometimes talked to at her locker in between classes asked if Adora wanted to go to Six Flags with her and her family. And Adora, too nice for her own good, had agreed before remembering her plans with Catra._

_The pillow protecting Catra was yanked from her hands. She yelped and shot up, glaring at Adora, who was perched over the side of the bed, one hand on the rail, the other holding the pillow over her head._

_“I promise I’ll make it up to you, okay?” Adora’s expression softened. “I just...feel bad. She has no one to go with, and I would hate to tell her that I can’t go anymore. Her brothers are bringing their friends or something, too, so she would be all by herself.”_

_“Whatever. Just leave me alone.” Catra huffed and threw herself back down, this time going under the covers for shelter. She pulled the comforter over her head, tucking the edges beneath her so that there wouldn’t be another incident of losing something to Adora._

_A sigh, then the mattress dipped under a new weight._

_“I said go away!” Catra huddled in on herself._

_“If you’re allowed not to listen, then so am I,” Adora replied calmly._

_Fine. Catra sat back up, angrily combing hair from her eyes. “You really don’t get it, do you?”_

_Adora blinked._

_“I’m mad at you because you’re a dumbass who can’t say no to people.” Catra knew she shouldn’t say the next part, but the words were already flowing from her lips before she could think about the repercussions._

_“Maybe you should go find a new best friend, since I’m clearly no longer worth your time.”_

_Catra knew she went too far from the way Adora’s face whitened, her mouth falling open. Too late now. She stood her ground, tilting her chin up in defiance._

_“Is that what you think?” Adora breathed. She dropped her eyes to the blanket. “Well, at least I’m still trying to keep our friendship together. I don’t see you bending over backwards trying to make time for me.”_

_“Oh, bullshit--”_

_“No,” Adora said, voice hardening. She looked back up, and Catra had to doubletake at the angry set in her eyes. “You don’t get to_ bullshit _me, not when you’ve been avoiding me since school started back up.”_

_Adora_ never _cursed. Shit._

_“_ I’ve _been avoiding_ you _?” Catra countered, rolling her eyes. “Please. Cry me a river.”_

_“You stopped visiting me at my locker, you only talk to me at school if I talk to you first, and you’ve never been to a single one of my games.”_

_Oh. Catra faltered._

_Adora kept going, the anger in her voice only growing and growing. “Why do I always have to be the one to make sacrifices? When are you actually going to act like you_ give a fuck _about me and this friendship? I have to practically beg you to pay attention to me!” She swallowed. “Do you even like me? At all? Or are you just pretending to be friends with me?”_

_No. God, no. No, no, no. Of course Catra liked Adora; she liked her more than she let on, which was why she was so pissed at her. But her damn hubris had other plans. “Well, I’m not the one who did a full one-eighty and is no longer the same person! I didn’t go and become a stranger to my best friend overnight! I didn’t leave her behind for some of the fakest girls in school!”_

_Adora inhaled sharply, blinking rapidly. Only then did Catra notice the tears brimming in her eyes. “You know what? Never mind.” She swiped at her eyes and turned to hop down to the floor. “I don’t know why I try with you. Nothing will ever change. Stay mad. See if I care.”_

_Catra’s heart just about fell to her stomach. She wanted to call out to Adora, reach for her hand and pull her back and hug her until the world ended. But she couldn’t. She never could. She wasn’t good enough for Adora and never would be. Adora had her life planned out for her, with Ms. Weaver making sure everything went smoothly for her so she would be successful. Meanwhile, Catra had no idea what she was doing, had no idea about anything. The way Adora made her feel these days wasn’t the way she used to feel this time last year, yet it felt so familiar; it scared her beyond belief._

_But it didn’t matter, because the day Catra became friends with Adora was perhaps the worst and best mistake she ever made._

* * *

Adora slumped into her seat, setting down the thick packets her teacher had everyone grab upon entering the class. It was a humid morning, with no wind to be found, and Coach Netossa decided to welcome them back to school with a three mile run as a warmup and an intense workout on the football field. By the end of the period, everyone was dripping with sweat and hating life. They had already been back on the field for a couple weeks now; the school loved to push summer camps on all the extracurriculars right before the first day of school so that they could already have a head start on the seasons by the first day. All the schools did this, of course, but Bright Moon liked to make sure that they worked harder than the rest to get ahead. 

Things could be worse, Adora supposed. She had chosen not to play a fall sport that year in order to focus on her academics and college, so at least she hadn’t had to worry about her two sports schedules colliding, even though their seasons were far apart. Her main focus was soccer, anyway. Had always been since she was little and Ms. Weaver pushed her and the other orphans into sports, especially her, for reasons Adora was still unsure of to this day. And this year was no different. Well, except for the fact that there were already recruiters from colleges around the country taking an interest in her and would be watching her in the upcoming months. Her junior year had been her best year to date, as she worked hard to help bring her team to victory nearly every game. 

She glanced down at the packets in front of her, blinking at the vocab terms on the front page of the one entitled _Notes._ Flipping the paper over, she immediately regretted not taking an easier math class for that year. Formula after formula, graph after graph. She swallowed the lump in her throat, remembering the hell that was Algebra I and II freshmen year and junior year. Why did she let Glimmer convince her to switch schedules? 

She was reminded why when the girl in question trudged into the room, looking as happy to be there as a lobster in one of those tanks at Walmart (did they still have those? Adora hadn’t stepped into a Walmart in years). Like Adora, her face was covered in a layer of sweat. Her normally styled hair was pulled back in a half-up and very frizzy do. Adora remembered that she had band first period, so she must’ve been outside as well. Well, at least they could complain about the weather together every morning. They had already been doing so for the past couple of weeks, as they were both victims of this year’s intense August sun, evidence being their laughable tan lines and sunburns. Bow tried to include himself in their self indulged whine-sessions, but as he was only part of the front ensemble, thus only had to stand around in the heat and occasionally the shade, they ignored him. 

“Oh my god, I thought I was going to suffocate this morning,” Glimmer groaned once she found her seat and made her way over to Adora. She plopped down into the empty chair beside her and rested her head on the cool table. “I’m quitting band. It’s official.” 

Adora placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, then immediately retracted it and wiped the girl’s sweat off on her jeans. Not the best choice now that she was thinking about it, but she had tried to be presentable for her last first day. Putting them on in the sticky locker room, though, was like a second workout. “You say that every year. And you can’t this year, right? Didn’t they make you captain or something?” 

A long sigh. Glimmer lifted her head. She was used to Adora not knowing anything about band, and thankfully for Adora, was patient about it, even when Adora got terms wrong. “Section leader, yeah. I still don’t know why.” 

“Because you’re an amazing musician?” Adora tried for a smile. “And good at telling people what to do?” 

Glimmer started to respond, but was immediately interrupted by a third voice. “Oh! Hi, um, wow, this is, like, super awkward, but I think you’re in my seat.” 

They turned their heads and looked up at the tall girl standing as though she was four feet tall and not over six feet. 

“Hey, Scorpia. Didn’t know you were in this class.” Adora kept her tone light, though her heart dropped. She knew Scorpia was one of the exchange students from Horde, but didn’t expect to have any classes with her. She didn’t expect to have classes with any of her former peers, really. Anyone else from Horde, she probably could’ve dealt with, and Scorpia was a nice person, but she was also the person closest to Catra these days. Catra, who was also part of the exchange program, reasons still unknown. 

Adora had already been forced to see her every day for the past two weeks, as she and Scorpia were the only two people from Horde that made the soccer team, and now she had to endure first period with Catra for a whole year. If she was lucky, that would be the only time of day they would have to see one another. Surely, it was; Adora had a blended AP Government and Economics class third period, and then a free period since she didn’t need another class to graduate. If Catra was still the same person she was four years ago, which Adora was sure she was, she cared about school about as much as she cared about her reputation, and wouldn’t be caught dead in an advanced class. 

“You’re surprised?” Scorpia laughed, maybe a tad bit too enthusiastic. She took her seat as Glimmer got up. Adora exchanged looks with her friend, silently agreeing to meet after class. “I should be the surprised one. I thought you were, like, super smart, and in Calculus or something. Not that there’s nothing wrong with not being in those classes, of course! I mean, I’m here, too!” Her laughter became awkward, almost apologetic. 

Heat rose to Adora’s cheeks. “Math isn’t really my strong suit.” She tried to smile, but it turned into more of a grimace. “Honestly, I won’t be too shocked if I end up failing this class. Glimmer made me take it with her. I was supposed to be in Math Models, which I heard was really easy and doesn’t give much homework.” Really, it would’ve been ideal for her packed schedule. 

“I’m sure it won’t be that bad!” Scorpia examined her own packets. Adora saw the light leave her eyes the longer she looked. “Ah. Oh. Oh yeah. I...yeah...I see what you mean.” 

The bell rang. This was going to be a long period. 

* * *

What was with Bright Moon and their confusing hallways? 

Catra groaned and turned yet another corner, phone gripped in her hand. For the twentieth time, she checked her schedule, a blurry photo she hurriedly snapped that morning after waking up late. The room number glared back at her, along with the course and teacher’s name. She had maybe thirty seconds to find this class before she would have to go on another scavenger hunt for the attendance office to collect a tardy. If Scorpia hadn’t chattered her ear off the second they found one another after second period…

There it was. Shoved all the way in the deepest corner of the school, it was the second best thing she had laid her eyes on that morning, the first thing being the breakfast bar she inhaled during second period. 

Relief washed over Catra, and she picked up her pace a bit, crossing the threshold just as the bell sounded. She made a path to the nearest open seat, only somewhat noticing how small the class was. Once her things were on the ground, phone plopped in front of her on her desk, she looked around. The teacher’s desk was at the front of the room beside the white board, but there was no teacher sitting at it. There wasn’t even a teacher in the room. Huh. Did the faculty really trust their students enough to leave them alone? It certainly hadn’t been like that at Horde. 

Whatever. Most of the kids here could pay their way out of any trouble with daddy’s money anyway. There probably wasn’t a single person in this room who had seen bars. 

Catra sank into her chair, reaching for her phone. There were already two Snapchats from Scorpia, along with a text message that was just an old style meme of a wide eyed cat. Why Scorpia still found the dated memes to be funny, Catra didn’t know, but she secretly enjoyed getting them throughout the day. Even if Scorpia probably got them from a soccer mom on Facebook. She sent a half assed photo of the board in response to the snaps, which were only asking what class she was in now. 

The teacher still hadn’t entered the room. The other students didn’t seem bothered by this, continuing their conversations. A couple of guys, probably football players, due to the cocky, shit eating grins on their faces, were playing Hacky Sack in the middle of the room, where there was a large open space. Catra rolled her eyes. It seemed teenage boys were the same no matter where you were. How other teens could find them attractive was still a mystery to her. 

A snort followed by an ugly laugh sounded from across the room, sending a chill up Catra’s spine. That laugh was frighteningly familiar.

Oh, for the love of fuck. 

First she had to deal with Little Miss Perfect and Blonde in first period. Not to mention the two weeks they were forced together for summer conditioning. Now, here she was once again, perched on top of a desk and surrounded by people who were just as annoyingly pretty as her. A dark skinned girl with blue hair was showing her something from her phone, and Adora was practically in tears. Typical Adora, always finding anything and everything amusing. 

Catra slid lower in her seat, running a hand through her hair. She tried to keep her eyes trained on her phone, but Adora’s voice and obnoxious laughter had her peeking back up every time. Compared to earlier that morning, when they had all been suffering under the humidity, she was now put together and poised, dressed in white washed jeans and a simple striped tee. Catra picked at a hole in the flannel she stole from Rogelio to hide her very obvious cropped tank, the first top she could find that morning, and shifted in her grey sweatpants. Comfort outruled fashion, even if it was the first day of school. Catra didn’t care. She wasn’t there to win a beauty contest. All that mattered to her was her potential scholarship. 

That was the _only_ reason she was at this hell school. 

Her stomach grumbled. With a sigh, she reached down into her bag, digging for another granola bar or a bag of chips to hold her over until the end of the day. Ms. Weaver gave them money for lunch, but never enough, so Catra was stuck with vending machine food. She could use her own money, seeing as she had a job and did commissions online, but she cringed at using her hard earned paycheck like that when it could be put towards college. She could starve throughout the day and survive on only dinner if it meant another penny went to her education. Her freedom. 

A man walked into the room, looking around his mid-thirties and wearing a teacher’s badge. He didn’t even blink an eye at the game being played in the center of his room, going straight to his desk and sitting down.

“Please, quiet down for a minute so I can take attendance.” He pulled something up on his laptop and reached for the coffee mug beside it. Catra took note of the Keurig not two feet from his chair. Maybe this guy wouldn’t be so bad. Hopefully better than her Bio teacher last period, who was an absolute asshole and was only nice to Entrapta, a girl Catra quickly learned was stupidly smart. 

“Alright,” the teacher muttered, clicking his tongue on the roof of his mouth. “If I say your name incorrectly, please tell me.” With that, he sighed and began listing off names, each student announcing their presence. When he got to Adora’s name, he raised an eyebrow. 

“Ah, didn’t grow tired of me last semester, Grayskull?”

“Of course not, Mr. Brian,” Adora replied, her voice way too bubbly for Catra’s taste. She rolled her eyes. Always the teacher’s pet. How was she going to last an entire eighteen weeks in this tiny room with her? 

“Maybe this time, take notes instead of finishing your math homework.”

It took every muscle in Catra’s body to hold back the laugh that built up in the back of her throat. A few students snorted, and while Adora’s cheeks brightened, she smiled. 

“I still passed,” she said smugly, trading glances with the blue-haired girl. Catra’s chest tightened. Irritation settling in her gut, she gnawed off another chunk of her breakfast bar. 

“Mhm.” Mr. Brian shook his head, then continued rattling off names. For a moment, it seemed as though Miss Perfect wasn't so perfect, but even when she messed up, she didn’t get in trouble. It had been that way back when she used to be under Ms. Weaver’s care; clearly, nothing had changed. 

“Elizabeth Weaver?” 

Catra glanced across the room at Adora, enjoying the way she jerked at the mention of her name. Always so oblivious. A bitterness settled in her mouth, but she ignored it. So what if they used to be best friends? Adora made it obvious three years ago that Catra didn’t matter to her; of course she wouldn’t have cared to notice they were in a class together until now. 

“Present.” Catra leaned back in her chair. “But my name’s Catra. Elizabeth is what my foster mother calls me when I’ve pissed her off.” There were a couple snickers, mostly from the obvious jocks. She drank in the attention, letting it fuel her confidence. It helped overpower the stab to the gut every time she heard that name. Once upon a time, before her life became a living shit show, she had actually liked it, enjoyed hearing it from her mother’s soft voice. And then she was thrown into the system, ending up being stuck with Weaver for fourteen long years; the name was no longer kind. 

“That’s quite an interesting name, Catra.” Mr. Brian eyed her, a small smile tugging at his lips. “What’s the origin?” 

Catra’s insides stiffened, but she forced her face to remain neutral, not caring. She shrugged. “Saw the name Catalina in a book once and thought it was badass. Changed it up a little.” She left out the part about who had suggested the name in the first place. Unimportant details. 

Mr. Brian nodded in appreciation. Teachers didn’t usually like it when she let slip curse words, which was all the more reason to do it. The fact that he wasn’t bothered by it, amused at most, put a bit of pride in Catra’s deteriorating ego. Then he spotted the breakfast bar in Catra’s hand. 

“School policy states no food in the classroom.” He raised his voice a bit to speak to the entire class, but his eyes remained on her. “Now, you guys are seniors, and so I’m going to treat you like adults and let you make your own choices.” He raised a finger. “But, I will not back you up if an assistant principal walks in for an evaluation and your Taco Bell burritos are strewn across your notes.” He looked around the room. “Understood?” 

Catra shoved the rest of the bar into her mouth and gave a thumbs up.

With that, he turned on the projector and stood. He walked to the door and turned off the lights, revealing a powerpoint slide on the Smart Board. He wasted no time in beginning his lecture on the American Government system. Around her, kids took out notebooks and laptops and iPads. The teacher hadn’t even given them proper notes or gone over a syllabus or anything. 

Adora may be in the class with her, but Catra could tell she was going to like this period _very_ much.

* * *

“Mara, Razz, I’m home.” Adora shut the front door, tossing her car keys onto the side table in the entryway. It was just before three in the afternoon. Her stomach fluttered in excitement at the knowledge that the school day was technically just now ending, and she had already been out of class for over an hour. She was _really_ going to enjoy that free period. Especially since it gave her more time in the day, and she wouldn’t have to worry about her volunteer hours at the sanctuary getting in the way. Swiftie wouldn’t be too happy with her if she visited less.

“Oh, Adora, dearie! Come, come!” Adora followed her grandmother’s voice into the kitchen. The large island in the center of the room was covered in ingredients; the air was heavy with cinnamon.

“Apple pie?” Adora peered into the oven, where a pie sat baking. And from the looks of it, there was another one in the making. 

“Last first day treat!” Her aunt wiped her hands off on her apron and embraced Adora tightly. “How does it feel to be a senior?” 

Adora set her bag down on the floor and hopped up into a barstool at the island. Her grandmother was enamored with baking, especially pies. Adora had learned that early on. She remembered moving in with them back in the summer before ninth grade, and a pie had been waiting on the counter for her once she finished unpacking what little belongings she owned. In her four years with her family, Adora had eaten more pie than she could fathom. 

“Just another normal day.” She smiled and pointed finger guns at Mara, who chuckled. Even though she was technically her aunt, her father’s sister, Mara was more of an older sibling to Adora than a parental figure. They were only fifteen years apart in age, which really wasn’t that much. In fact, she had banned Adora from calling her “aunt” the first time the word ever tumbled out of Adora’s mouth. 

_“It makes me feel old,”_ she had said. 

“Mhm.” Mara’s eyes widened. “Mama, no, no, no. Use an oven mitt.” She pressed the protective wear into Razz’s hands just before she could pull out the pie from the oven. 

Razz simply laughed. “Oh, nonsense! I have old lady hands, Mara. They’re stronger than any mitt.” Still, she did as her daughter asked, probably just to appease her. 

Honestly, some days Adora wasn’t sure which of them was losing it faster. 

Mara let out a long sigh and turned back to Adora. “Tell me about your day. Didn’t you say you have a class with Glimmer? How did that go?”

“Good,” Adora lied, remembering the Pre-Calc homework that sat unfinished in her backpack. None of the notes had made sense, and to make matters worse, her teacher was horrible at explaining anything, and often came to the wrong answer from doing complicated math in her head instead of just using a calculator like a normal person. At least three people had corrected her on example problems, while Adora watched in clueless stupidity. 

Mara peered at Adora as though she wanted to press more on the subject. Thankfully, she didn’t. “And what about the exchange program? Any trouble yet?”

Adora let out a laugh. How could she forget about that? She thought back to her third period, Government and Economics, and how her skin turned to ice at the mention of Catra’s name. She hadn’t even noticed that they were in the same class, mainly because Catra had chosen a seat at the very back on the other side of the room, and it wasn’t like Adora had been looking for her. What was Catra doing in an AP class, anyway? She was smart, yeah, smarter than a lot of people Adora knew, but had never once cared about putting in the effort required for advanced classes. In middle school, she rarely did her homework out of spite for her teachers, claiming they shouldn’t expect kids to have a million subjects a day and go home and have millions of pages of homework for each subject. Dramatic, even back then. 

“Not yet that I know of. I have that girl, Scorpia, in my second period with Glimmer.” She bit her lip, not really wanting to reveal more information, but knowing Mara would pry it out of her anyway. “And get this, Catra’s in my gov’ and econ’ class. Catra. In an AP.”

Mara’s eyebrows shot up in interest. Catra was one of the only subjects she never pushed too hard on, knowing how much it pained Adora to talk about her former best friend. She knew that they grew up together, had a falling out after she and Razz took Adora in, and that Catra was now a total bitch to Adora and made it her life goal to torture her. 

“Do we need to talk to your counselor about a schedule change? It’s not too late.”

That would be too easy, and it would mean Catra winning. Besides, it was only the first day, and they barely looked at one another the entire time. “No, I’m fine. I’ll just keep avoiding her like I did during the summer.” 

Mara gave her a long look. “If that’s what you want, then okay.” 

Adora convinced herself it was.

* * *

The week rolled along smoothly, for the most part. Adora had expected at least teasing or taunting from Catra, during soccer or third period, but Catra hardly paid her any mind. Adora told herself the frustration in her gut was because Catra was just being Catra and trying to get under her skin, and not because she was annoyed at being ignored by her former friend. 

And then Mr. Brian passed out the first paper he had all week (the guy was more of a ‘every person for themself’ kind of dude--he had never supplied them with physical materials in the art history elective Adora took last year, leaving it up to them on how they wanted to keep track of their work) on Wednesday. The paper in question was a simple double sided questionnaire...about their political values. Simple enough, though Adora didn’t see why it was necessary to fill it out; weren’t teachers supposed to disregard political views while in the classroom? 

But on Friday, after an Economics lesson on Thursday, he announced a seating chart. This was new to Adora; he hadn’t done it during her elective, letting that class pick their seats. But this was also a required class, so she supposed things were different. 

Her seat didn’t move very far, just to the row on her left and at the back. Mermista was no longer beside her, though. Her seat was more toward the center of the room, and that was when the light bulb flickered in Adora’s head. The way Mr. Brian set up the room suddenly made complete sense, with groups of desks facing one another at an angle on opposite sides of the room. A majority of the male jocks were on the right side, mostly caucasian, and Adora and the people she interacted with most in the room were towards the left side. 

Okay, so it was a politics class. So the teacher had separated them by their political ideologies from that questionnaire. Nothing wrong with that. It only made debates and discussions easier, and Adora could assume another peer’s position on a subject.

That didn’t bother her at all.

What bothered her was the fact that a certain someone was lounging in the last seat on the left side in the last row, making her the person with the strongest left ideals. 

And Adora was right next to her. 

“Hey, Adora, how’s it hangin’?” Catra smirked at her as she sat down in her new seat, muscles stiff. From their workout that morning, she told herself. 

Deciding to be the bigger person, Adora plastered on a smile. “Great.” She turned her attention to Mermista, a few chairs in front of her on the next row over. Lucky her, getting to be in the front while Adora got stuck in the back. Maybe if she talked to Mr. Brian after class, she could change some of her answers and get a different seat closer to the front. 

Mermista was engrossed in her phone, probably texting her not-boyfriend, Sebastian “Just call me Sea Hawk” Aquino, the token football player in their scraggly friend group. Although Adora wasn’t sure how much he counted as a football player, since he was sidelined most games and showed more interest in theater, his other passion. 

While Mr. Brian took attendance, Adora made use of her time and pulled out her phone to check...anything. She responded to a Snap from Bow in their ‘Best Friend Squad’ group on Snapchat, checked her Instagram (what was with the sugar daddy bots in the dms these days?), and liked a meme Frosta--the overenthusiastic sophomore they adopted into their friend group after she latched onto Glimmer in band--sent to their bigger group chat. 

Mr. Brian eventually launched into their lecture, today’s topic being Federalism in the United States. Adora copied down what she found to be important in her notebook. Many of the students these days had switched to taking notes on tablets and laptops, but Adora still liked the old fashion way. Plus, she had yet to find a note taking app that could accommodate her specific, organized needs; it was just easier on paper. 

Beside her, she noticed Catra using an iPad, although it was obvious she wasn’t doing notes. She was swiping a stylus across the screen, engrossed in whatever sat before her, probably a game. Adora would’ve tried to get a better look, but that would only make her look weird, and she was not about to embarrass herself in front of Catra. 

It didn’t stop her from being mildly annoyed at the girl for not even bothering to pay attention. Well, apparently it didn’t matter that she was now taking classes at the same level as Adora; her work ethic hadn’t changed a bit. 

At the end of the period, Mr. Brian announced he was splitting everyone up into groups for Monday’s discussion. They were all assigned important documents to research and take notes over the key points, such as sections of the Federalist Papers. And the best part? They would share their notes with their groups, which was the people around them, at the beginning of class. Adora tried not to be too bothered by the fact that she would be forced to talk to Catra in a few days. 

The bell rang, and everyone began packing up and filing out of the room. 

“Grayskull,” Mermista drew out in a tone suggesting she wanted to be anywhere but there. For once, Adora could relate. “What are you doing tonight?”

Adora shoved her notebook perhaps a bit too forcefully into her bag. She raked through her brain. Friday night football didn’t start for another week, leaving her evening plans open. “I’m probably going to just stay home and have a movie night with Mara. Why?”

Mermista rolled her eyes. “Ew, boring.” She reached into her bag and pulled out a stick of gum. “Listen, my dad’s out of town on a lame business trip and won’t be back until Sunday, so I’m having a party. You know, to celebrate our first week being done, or whatever. Bring anyone you want. I don’t really care.”

“Ooh, a party?” Adora whipped her head around. Of course Catra was still in the room, listening in on a conversation that didn’t involve her. “Am I invited?”

Adora shot Mermista a look, hoping that her silently screaming _No_ would get past her blue hair and into her brain. 

The message was _not_ received. 

Mermista eyed Catra up and down, a slight smirk on her face. A knot formed in Adora’s chest. 

“Sure. Any ACDC fan is welcome.” She paused, and Adora hated the way she looked at Catra, as if this were a game. What was even worse was the playful grin Catra returned. “Bring a swimsuit. A cute one.”

“Seriously, Mermista?” Adora questioned the second they were out of the classroom. Catra left before them, after getting Mermista’s address. She let them know she would see them both at the party, _both_ being directed at Adora with a secretive glint in her eyes. Adora hated it. 

“Ugh, what?” Mermista complained. “Dude, I get that you have beef with her or some shit, but she’s like, super hot, and into the same music as me.”

“You think she’s hot?” Adora couldn’t help the flush at the back of her neck; she tried to push the words out with as little interest as possible. “Catra? Attractive? Haha, please…” Yeah, she didn’t buy it either. 

“In a mysterious, brooding way.” Mermista nodded. “And I always like a good mystery.”

Adora groaned. This could only turn out badly. 

* * *

“And you’re sure this is the place?” Scorpia slowed as they passed the house, where dozens of cars sat parked outside along the street. The pulse of music came from inside the walls, and people could be seen through the windows.

“What other street is named Salineas in this country?” Catra rolled her eyes. “Park here.” She pointed to an empty spot a few houses down. 

“Now, remember, everyone, I have an eleven o’clock curfew,” Scorpia reminded their little group as they headed down the sidewalk. It was a nice neighborhood, far nicer than the ones on their side of town, and much newer. But that was to be expected from this area. Catra wasn’t sure just how Etheria managed to split itself into completely opposite halves, but it had been that way for years, long before Catra was even born. And the rivalry between the town’s only high schools served to worsen the divide. 

“Yeah, yeah, we’ll be ready long before then,” Catra cut off Scorpia’s mini rant about being late. Like Scorpia would even get in trouble anyway. Her moms were far too nice. “I don’t plan on staying long, anyway.”

“Oh, come on, Catra.” Lonnie shook her head. “Relax. Not everyone at Bright Moon seems to be that bad.” She smirked. “Like Adora.”

Catra snarled at that and pushed the girl off the path and into the neatly cut grass. “Don’t talk to me about Adora.”

Lonnie just laughed and got back onto the cement. “Why not? Still scared of her?”

“I’m not scared of anyone, especially Adora.” Catra shoved passed her and up the long driveway of the party house. 

The door swung open after a few minutes of knocking, revealing a laughing Mermista with a drink in her hand. How she managed to hear them outside over the blasting music was a mystery. “Great, you came,” she drawled in a voice suggesting she didn’t really care that they showed up. “Who’re your friends? You know what, I don’t care.” She opened the door a bit wider to let them in. “My only rules are no shoes in the house, and please be respectful of the furniture and stuff.”

Catra gave her a long look, but shucked off her boots and set them with the heap of shoes. Her friends did the same.

“Oh, and Scorpia, I think Perfuma’s out back if you want to go find her.” With a curt wave, Mermista turned and walked away to resume socializing. She sidled up beside a cocky looking boy with a ridiculous bandana at his neck, yet tried to act annoyed when he put an arm around her. 

Rogelio mumbled something to Lonnie, who nodded. “We’re going to go check out the food situation.” The two of them traipsed off, a wide eyed Kyle following behind them. Ever since they were little, the three of them had stuck together. A knot twisted in Catra’s stomach at their closeness. 

“So, where to first?” Scorpia shifted from one foot to another. They were still in the large entryway. Unfamiliar faces blurred past them, moving from one room to the next, all smiling and laughing and happy. 

Catra wanted nothing more than to leave, maybe go home and crawl under her covers with her ipad and stylus and Procreate while listening to Vilvadi or Guns N’ Roses...whatever she was in the mood for. Her music taste was, truthfully, scattered across an abundance of contrasting genres. It made for some very interesting playlists, at least.

“There’s someone in the backyard you want to see, right?” Catra didn’t wait for an answer as she tugged at Scorpia’s arm, propelling both of them forward. They weaved through mingling teens, even passing a couple who were not shy about PDA. 

“Oh! Yeah!” Scorpia chuckled. “Perfuma. We have APES together. She loves the class.” If there was one class Catra was glad she never signed up for, it was AP Environmental Science. The horrors she had heard in past years. No thanks. She would stick with what she was good at. The environment didn’t interest her anyway.

“--friends with Adora.” Catra nearly ran into a side table in the living room. She paused, not caring that they were in the middle of a walkway, and turned to look up at Scorpia.

“What did you say?”

“Perfuma. She and Adora are friends. They’re in the same friend group or something, I think.” Scorpia’s cheeks reddened at the glare Catra gave her. “Wha-wha-what? Did I...did I say something wrong?”

Catra forced out a sigh. “Nothing. Let’s just go see what’s so interesting outside. I need some fresh air.”

The backyard was just about as interesting as the indoors, which wasn’t much. It was much of the same scene, people talking within their own little groups or dancing in spot to the music with a friend. 

“Scorpia!” There was the sound of water splashing. Catra looked over at the pool, where quite a few people were swimming, just as a girl with thick, curly blonde hair stepped out. Her swimsuit looked like it was straight out of the seventies. 

“Perfuma! Hi!” Maybe it was just the lighting from the setting sun, but Catra swore Scorpia’s face grew about ten shades darker. Huh. Interesting. “Wow! You look…”

Perfuma giggled. “Are you wearing a suit? The water’s great!” 

“Oh, shoot! That’s what I forgot. You know, I told myself right before I left that…”

Catra tuned out Scorpia’s ranting and skimmed the large, heavily ocean-themed, backyard. She spotted a few of her classmates, some of the football players from her government class, a couple of girls from her Bio period. Then her eyes landed on a head of pink hair, and the blonde ponytail beside it. 

Their other friend, Arrow or whatever dumb name he had, was with them as well, and the two girls were laughing at something he said. Glimmer shoved her drink in Adora’s face, who shook her head and tried to push it back, but after some prodding, she finally took a sip. Even from where she stood, Catra could see Adora’s immediate approval, eyes widening and a smile forming. Always one to betray her emotions like they were nothing. 

This wasn’t the first time Catra had to lay witness to Adora interacting with her new best friends, strangers she had latched onto the second she dropped Catra for a better life. Still, that aching pain, a wound that never healed properly, made its presence known within Catra’s body. She was so used to the pain at this point, having dealt with it for four years now, that it wrapped itself around her like a second skin. 

“Catra.” 

Catra snapped her head back to Scorpia, who was still talking to Perfuma. Scorpia raised an eyebrow. 

“What?” 

“I was just asking how you and Scorpia know one another,” Perfuma asked, voice filled with honey and way too many flowers. She even smiled at Catra, teeth perfectly straight and brighter than the future of a Horde student. 

Catra shrugged. The niceness was a little unsettling. Even more so when Catra was reminded that this hippie type was friends with Adora. Well, Adora was only friends with the chirpy, happy-go-lucky crowd these days after all. 

“We met freshman year,” was all she replied. Scorpia picked up right after her, going into a long, exaggerated version of the story of how they were assigned to work on a project together in the creative writing elective Catra had only taken freshman year as a blow-off class and had been “besties” since. She honestly remembered nothing from that class, other than the overbearing teacher and the blessing of no homework. 

A pressure was beginning to develop at the back of Catra’s head, and she hadn’t even had any alcohol. Hadn’t had anything to drink, actually, in the twenty or so minutes they had been here. The house hadn’t smelled of alcohol when they passed through earlier, and judging from Mermista’s obvious worry about getting in trouble with her parents, there probably wasn’t a drop of it in the house. Some party. People seemed to be enjoying themselves just fine, though, with whatever drinks were provided. Yeah, this definitely wasn’t Horde. A typical party thrown by a Horde student would be shut down by the cops in less than an hour, and many people would get into some heat for possessing alcohol or drugs. 

“Hey, Perfuma, we’re playing truth or dare at the firepit.” Mermista appeared at the girl’s side. Her shirt had been discarded at some point, leaving her in cutoff shorts and a bikini top. 

“Oh, okay! I’ll be there in a minute.” Mermista shrugged at her response and turned her back, making her way to the other side of the backyard where a small group of people were huddled around a firepit in adirondack chairs and on the ground.

“Truth or dare? I thought this was a high school party, not a middle school social,” Catra remarked, smirking. Perfuma tilted her head at her as though Catra’s words confused her. She squinted, not breaking eye contact. There was a certain level of intensity to her gaze that was unsettling, like she could see right through Catra and knew all of her secrets. Which was ridiculous. 

“You’re never too old for a good party game, Catra,” Perfuma finally replied, voice cool. Then it regained it’s chirpiness as she turned her attention back to Scorpia. “Would you two like to join?”

Scorpia eagerly agreed, meaning Catra would have to as well if she didn’t want to seem like the loner of the party. They followed Perfuma across the patio and into the thick, cool grass. Catra reached down real quick to strip her feet of her socks, not wanting to get them damp or dirty. She stuffed the garments into her jean pocket. 

“For the last time, I’m not dyeing my hair to match you, and neither is Bow.” Catra’s eyes fell on Adora, who was lounging in one of the chairs with Glimmer pushed up into her space, perched on her knee and trying to pull Adora’s hair out of its pony. 

“Come on, you have to admit it’d be cool!” Glimmer complained, laughing. Adora swatted her away and attempted to push the girl from her lap, though she too was smiling. Catra gritted her teeth. Looks like she and Scorpia were joining Adora’s entire group of idiots, not just some. 

“Who all is playing?” Mermista glared at the boy she had been seen with earlier, relaxed in a chair, and he got up immediately for her, letting her take the seat. 

A chorus of _me’s_ went around the fire. True to character, Adora hadn’t even looked up at Catra yet, too engrossed in messing around with her two friends to care about everyone else.

“I’ll bite,” Catra said last, forcing her legs forward to sit beside Scorpia. _That_ got Adora’s attention. She bit back a smirk, keeping her eyes on the fire.

“Didn’t know you were the type to be seen at parties like this, much less the type to be seen playing dumb games, Catra.” Her tone was sharp; Catra told herself she wasn’t bothered by it. She finally rolled her head in Adora’s direction to look at her. 

“Oh, hey, Adora.” Acting surprised, as if she hadn’t been aware of the girl’s presence before now. The jab seemed to work. Adora scoffed and rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. “What can I say, I’m full of surprises.” 

The game started, and Catra tried to learn some names. Not because she cared to get to know these people, but so she would be in the know on any future gossip. After all, it was good to learn as much as she could about her enemies, and Adora was her enemy. Her ex-best friend. The one person Catra had trusted, yet abandoned her just like everyone else.

A day years ago shoved its way into her brain as she got lost in her thoughts. Another party back in middle school, when social classes were just beginning to form as people were drawn to academics or books or sports or whatever that interested them. Catra hated it as much as she disliked the current one she was at, had wanted nothing more than to go home and crawl into bed where she was safe. Except it hadn’t been Scorpia that had dragged her along, Scorpia that Catra had glued herself to, but Adora. 

They were young then, clueless about the world around them and eager for any kind of happiness they could pick up from the ground. Catra remembered how Adora didn’t start changing until the summer before eighth grade. Looking back, she had already lost Adora long before Adora finally left her for good going into high school. Honestly, why had Catra been surprised when she chose the good life over her own best friend? They were already drifting apart back then, with Adora chasing to be some dumb vision of something great and Catra running to keep up. Catra supposed the only thing that kept her tied to Adora in middle school was her deep fear of losing the only stability in her life. Well. 

“Okay, ah, Catra. Truth or dare?” Scorpia mouthed a silent apology at the dirty look she received from Catra. 

“Dare.”

Scorpia thought for a moment, eyebrows knitting together in concentration. Catra could literally see the wheels at work inside her head. “Hm, how about...tell us something in Spanish.”

“Seriously? That’s what you want?” With Scorpia, she shouldn’t be surprised. Of course it was something random and completely innocent. “Alright.” She rambled on about something that would most definitely have earned her a grounding for life and quite possibly her immediate death if Ms. Weaver had heard her. Also a thorough digging of her internet search history.

“Glitter, truth or dare.” Catra leaned forward and settled her elbow on her knees, head in hand.

“Glimmer,” was the curt, pissed reply, separating the syllables like that made any difference. Oh, it had always been so easy to get under this one’s skin. If there was anyone more predictable, more clueless, than Adora, it was her dumb little pink haired friend. 

“You didn’t answer the question.”

“Ugh. Truth.”

Catra hummed. “Tell us. Whose pants are you trying to jump into sooner, Arrow Boy’s or Adora’s?” She grinned at the girl’s red face and the boy’s startled expression. It was child’s play. 

“Seriously, Catra?” Adora glared at her, cheeks alight with something other than the firelight. 

“What? Did I say something?” she countered, tilting her head mockingly. “Or did I read the situation wrong? Is it a threesome thing? Which, there’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but you just didn’t seem to be the type, _Grayskull_.” The name felt sick upon Catra’s tongue, so she spit it out.

“Your negative energy isn’t welcome here, Catra,” Perfuma cut in, her smile strained. “One of the rules is nothing too sexual, if you decided to pay attention.”

Catra groaned and ignored the looks this friend group was giving her. “Whatever. I’m going to get a drink.” She stood, waving away Scorpia who offered to go along. It wasn’t a fight worth fighting, not when she had no one to back her up. Scorpia normally would, but in the past week, it appeared she had been buddy-buddy with these people, so Catra lost her. Traitor. She was too nice. What she saw in Catra was a mystery, why she stuck around was unexplainable. 

She made it to the patio when a hand gripped at her wrist. She yelped and swatted it away, ready to shove off whoever just grabbed her. 

“What’s your problem?” It was just Goody-Two-Shoes Grayskull. Ugh. Catra’s budding headache couldn’t deal with her and her morals right now. 

“I don’t know what you mean,” Catra shot back. She turned again toward the house, but that hand stopped her once more. This time, it pulled her back forcefully. 

“ _Let go of me,_ ” Catra hissed, pushing at Adora’s shoulder. The blonde let out a tiny gasp, hand automatically going the spot Catra hit. She rubbed at the area, then it clicked for Catra. Her stone expression fell, just for a moment, as a wave of ice cold water washed over her. A reminder of her guilt, something she had buried into the ground years ago after the event. But...how could it still hurt? It had been nearly three years since the incident.

Unless it never healed correctly. 

“Why?” Adora pressed, hand falling from her shoulder. “Why can’t you just be civil for once? They’ve done nothing to you.”

Catra barked out a laugh. “They’ve done everything to me.”

“Then why are you here? Why are you wasting your time trying to ruin our night?”

“Because it’s fun. You used to know what fun was like.”

Adora crossed her arms, staring hard at Catra. “Just...leave them alone, got it? You can hate me all you want, but leave them out of it.” She huffed. “Honestly, why did you even transfer? You know as well as I do that you’re not going to go a whole year problem-free.” Right. Because in order to get her hands on that sweet scholarship, Catra had to play nice with the other children all year. It didn’t make the meaning behind Adora’s words hurt any less. 

“Don’t tell me what to do. I’m not some helpless thirteen year old with her tail between her legs needing you to boss me around anymore.” Catra took a bold step toward Adora, ignoring the scent of her sweat mixed with a sweet perfume. “I don’t need you. I never did.”

Adora’s jaw tightened. “Just...leave them alone. And grow up.” She was already turning to leave. But Catra was just getting started. Wind blew at the fire in her chest, helping it flourish. 

“Or what?” When Adora looked back at her, Catra narrowed her eyes. “What are you going to do?”

Adora never backed down from a challenge. This was no different. “I’ll make sure you don’t get that scholarship.” She paused. “If that’s even the real reason you’re here.” _Here_ could’ve been anywhere. The party, Bright Moon, in front of Adora right now. 

Before she could think twice about possible repercussions, Catra closed the distance between them and grabbed Adora by the front of her stupid crop top. She opened her mouth to speak, to spit out a line of insults just to push Adora further from her, but her eyes caught the glint of something at Adora’s throat that got caught in between Catra’s fingers with the soft cotton. The necklace. The same fucking necklace that was responsible for taking Adora from her. 

Adora pushed Catra off roughly while she was distracted. Catra stumbled back a few steps, both from the impact of the push and her shock that Adora was still attached to the damn thing. Of course she was. 

One more step back, and Catra’s heel didn’t touch ground. Her knees buckled, and with a shriek, she was immediately engulfed in cold salt water. 

Her hearing became muffled, vision blurry, water going up her nose, her damn hair deciding to get in her face as she resurfaced, spluttering and coughing and trying to get her mane away from her nose and mouth so she could breathe. 

“Oh, shit! Catra, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to push you that hard!” Any traces of malice had disappeared from Adora’s voice. Catra looked up to see her with a hand outstretched, worry etched into her features. She didn’t _get_ to be worried. She wasn’t allowed to pretend to be concerned; Catra saw right through those sympathetic gray eyes, that downward curve of her pink lips, the knitting of her forehead. Maybe once upon a time, she had fallen for it, but not anymore.

Catra reached up and accepted her hand. A small gasp escaped Adora’s mouth, probably surprised Catra was accepting her help. Well, it really was a shame, being deceived like that. 

With a harsh tug, Catra moved her body out of the way to give Adora the room to hit the water in the least graceful manner possible. She screamed, gripping Catra tightly as she fell. Catra tried pulling her arm free, but Adora’s hold was too tight. She was forced back under the surface.

When they both came back up, Catra was grinning from ear to ear, though she was anything but happy. Not waiting for Adora to recuperate, still coughing up salt water and pushing wet locks out of her face, Catra lunged for her.

Now, was it her best idea? No. None of her ideas were ever good, anyway. She wasn’t sure what came over her. Just...seeing Adora all week, all month, on a daily basis...it was too much. Anger that had been dormant since their falling out freshman year had stirred, awakening from a long, yet restless, slumber all those weeks ago when the summer camps first started. Seeing Adora be a pushover, even worse than their middle school days. Seeing Adora take charge during workouts. Seeing Adora motivate others. Seeing Adora laugh and joke with her mindless friends and teammates. Seeing Adora actively avoiding her and every one of her taunts. Ignoring her. Being happy, clearly unbothered that Catra was around. As though their friendship meant nothing to her, as though Catra meant nothing to her. 

They spent three years apart. Yes, they saw one another in public on rare occasions, seeing as Etheria was, unfortunately, only so big, but Catra had always either ignored her or put up a facade that she couldn’t give two shits about her. It had worked up until now, when Catra was forced to remember everything they went through, everything Adora did to her, on a daily basis. Every time she looked into those bright eyes, heard that laughter, memories sprung to her brain of those eyes looking back at her and that laugh being her doing. It was tiring, frustrating. A wound that was reopened and constantly messed with, left to fester. Catra wanted to rip her hair out every night she got home from school or from work. 

And now, now she had been pushed too far. Quite literally. The party had been a stupid idea, but Catra had been too caught up in her own fantasy world that things would go her way. That couldn’t be further from the truth; things _never_ went her way, no matter how hard she tried and pushed and pleaded with the world.

Catra was pulled from the water with a yelp, a towel being thrown across her shoulders that she shrugged awayt. Adora was being helped out by her two friends, also handed a towel as she stripped out of her soaked clothes to reveal the bathing suit underneath. Catra barely registered any of it. 

There was a red mark across Adora’s jaw, and Catra realized it was a scratch. From her. She looked down at her sharp black acrylics, hands shaking, and noticed a couple had broken. Those nails were now bleeding. 

Scorpia’s voice was going off behind her, insistent, but Catra heard nothing. Her focus stayed trained on Adora, who was breathing hard and sending a glare meant to kill right back at Catra. Mermista stepped between them, face hard. It was probably the most emotional Catra had seen her in the week they knew one another. 

“I think it’s best if you leave,” she said coldly, and only then did Catra notice the rest of Adora’s friends were behind her, either glaring at Catra or asking Adora if she was okay. The Bow guy was tilting Adora’s chin up with gentle fingers, examining the scratch Catra inflicted. The music was still blasting the current hits, but nearly everyone in the backyard was staring at the two soaked girls. 

Catra was spent.

“Scorpia?” She finally turned to face the only person who still gave a damn about her. 

The sympathetic look she got was disgusting. If she wasn’t suddenly so tired, she would’ve snapped at Scorpia to wipe it off her face before she did it herself. 

“Right behind you, Wild Cat.”

As she started her pitiful walk of shame, legs stiff from her drenched jeans, she looked over her shoulder, just one last time, at Adora. Already, she had forgotten about Catra, until she opened her mouth and spoke. 

“No, I know. She’s a bitch and I’m an idiot. Of course I’m never speaking to her again.”

Somehow, hearing the words actually leave Adora’s mouth was worse than the countless nights Catra spent thinking about how much Adora must hate her.

Well, she got what she wanted. She no longer had to wonder. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> embarrassing disclaimer: i never went to a *typical* high school party:( (actually not that embarrassed lmao id rather stay home) 
> 
> embarrassing disclaimer #2: i can’t write Conflict 
> 
> find me on tumblr, emybain, or my she ra side blog, adorascake! feedback is welcome and appreciated<3 thanks for reading!


	3. Part 1: Fight, Rebels, Fight!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the amount of projecting in this single chapter is astronomical.

_Catra had been upset with Adora before, but never like this._

_It had been over a week since their fight about Adora going to Six Flags instead of hanging out with Catra, and they had barely said two words to one another. Usually, when Catra got upset over something, Adora left her alone to sort through her feelings herself and regroup, letting her return to Adora when she had a clearer head. After years of trying to get Catra to open up to her when bothered over something and never receiving answers, Adora found this to be the best way. The longest Catra had been angry at Adora was only a few days, and it had only been drawn out so long because of her own hubris. So when it passed the normal mark of expected silence, Adora became worried. Thoughts began racing through her mind, nagging her at every quiet moment she had that she had messed up horribly, that her mistake had been too huge, and now she had failed Catra. Failure wasn’t in Adora’s vocabulary; she rejected the word. Anything short of her best wasn’t good enough. And now she had messed up one of the only good things in her life. Adora had never been good at facing her mistakes; they terrified her beyond belief. Still, she wanted to make things right, but reaching out to Catra before she was ready wasn’t even a consideration, knowing how she would react to Adora’s prodding._

_Adora had no other option but to worry and wait and then worry some more._

_She used this time to talk more to Lonnie, who they shared a bedroom with in the home. They did their homework together in the afternoons once getting home from school and talked while getting ready for bed after dinner. All while Catra continued to give Adora the silent treatment. Adora tried not to let it get to her too much, reminding herself that her studies still mattered even if her best friend was angry with her. It wasn’t like she had much of a choice; if Ms. Weaver even suspected she was falling behind in school, well, Adora didn’t want to think about what she would do. She would punish Adora, yes, but then she would find a reason to hurt the people and things Adora cared about as well. Like Catra._

_“Oh, Adora, I meant to ask you earlier,” Lonnie said one evening as they were changing into their pajamas. “Rogelio mentioned going to one of the high school games later this week, and if you want to go, your word is better than ours with Ms. Weaver.”_

_Adora smiled, slipping on an old t-shirt. Despite the strict expectations on her shoulders, Ms. Weaver still favored her over many of her wards, for whatever reason. She had never understood it, but she figured she might as well use it to her advantage when possible. “That sounds fun. I haven’t been to any of the high school games yet. Who’s all going?”_

_“Me, Rogelio, Kyle, and you.” Lonnie looked behind Adora. “You can come, too, if you want, Catra. That is, if you’re done with your little tantrum.”_

_Catra didn’t answer from her spot on top of her bed, but she did shoot a glare at Lonnie. They had always had a rocky relationship._

_“Mhm. That’s what I thought,” Lonnie muttered, rolling her eyes in response to Catra’s moodiness. She returned her attention to Adora. “Well, the sooner you talk to Weaver, the greater chance we have at being allowed to go.”_

_“I’ll bring it up to her tomorrow before school. She’s usually distracted in the mornings anyway.” She made her way over to her bed and crawled beneath the covers. “It’s the perfect time to ask for anything.”_

_“Ooh,” Lonnie drawled, “I didn’t know Miss Perfectionist had a bad side. I like it.” She went over to the light switch by the door and flipped off the lights before climbing into bed herself. “Night, Adora.”_

_Lonnie’s words pricked at Adora’s skin uncomfortably, but she didn’t push that subject. It was late, and she was tired. “Night, Lonnie.”_

* * *

_Adora was asleep for what seemed like a total of five minutes when her eyes opened of their own accord. She glanced around the bedroom, squinting in the darkness. Lonnie was passed out on her stomach and snoring softly into her pillow. Adora checked the time on her alarm clock; it was only a little past three in the morning._

_Well, she might as well use the bathroom if she was awake._

_Shifting her body into an upright position, Adora pushed away her sheets and comforter. During the colder months, she was thankful for the horrendous old carpeting in the bedroom, which provided a little warmth that tile or wood couldn’t._

_The house was quiet, save for the air conditioning and the creaking of the floor beneath Adora’s bare feet. She made her way down the hallway and to the bathroom all the wards shared, noticing that the door was swung wide open and the light already on. Someone must’ve forgotten to turn it off; Ms. Weaver would be livid if she found out. Hopefully, that wouldn’t happen._

_Adora squinted in the brightness upon entering the tiny room, rubbing at the sleep still in her eyes. Once her sight adjusted, she froze mid yawn._

_“Sorry,” she mumbled to Catra, who was sitting on top of the counter with toilet paper in her hands, ripping the ends to shreds and letting them fall into the sink. “I didn’t know you were in here.”_

_She turned to go, feet crossing the threshold. when the sound of tearing paper paused. “Adora, wait.”_

_Heart in her throat, Adora stopped, then looked over her shoulder._

_Catra was small from her perch beside the sink, pajamas hanging around her lithe frame and back hunched so far forward Adora would’ve believed she’d fall forward if not for her impeccable balance. She always liked to act bigger than the entire world when around everyone else; Adora only saw that side of her in private when she was mad and built a wall of bricks around herself. Any normal day, Catra had nothing to prove, not around Adora. This was the side Adora was used to seeing, and hadn’t seen for over a week: vulnerable and heart on her sleeve. The side that trusted Adora._

_Silence filled the gap between the two girls as Adora waited for Catra to continue. She watched her, picking at the toilet paper again, but not shredding it like she had been._

_“I can’t sleep,” Catra finally said, head falling to her chest._

_Adora’s mouth quirked up, and she crossed the small space to hop up beside Catra on the counter. Catra stilled, but relaxed the moment Adora placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. She held out her other palm, and Catra reluctantly handed over the toilet paper. Adora began ripping off pieces, just as she had been doing minutes before. It was kind of comforting, this tiny act of rebellion, knowing how Ms. Weaver would lay into her if she found out they were wasting the things she so charitably bought for her ungrateful wards._

_“What’s on your mind?” Adora implored. She wanted to bring Catra closer to her, to wrap both arms around her and rest her head against hers, but knew Catra would shy away from such contact after days of avoiding her. So, she stayed still, giving Catra the space if that was what she wanted._

_Catra shrugged, but Adora had a feeling there was a lot going on in that stubborn head of hers._

_She wasn’t expecting an apology; Catra never said sorry, had once screamed to the heavens that she would never apologize to anyone, ever, when they were just kids. At least, never physically apologize. Adora liked to believe that moments like this were her own way of saying she was sorry, when she finally welcomed Adora back into her personal space, and that’s all Adora cared about. Now, it was her turn._

_“I’m sorry.” Two words, yet their weight was heavy in the poor lighting of the bathroom. “I never meant to hurt you, Catra.”_

_Catra’s shoulders rose up and down again, though her back straightened a little. “Whatever. It’s not like it matters anymore.”_

_And just like that, Adora knew things could go back to normal again. No problems, no fights, just the two of them against the rest of the world. She was forgiven for her mistake, even if she knew deep down she didn’t deserve this forgiveness; she hadn’t been punished enough for screwing up, but Catra didn’t need to worry about that._

_“Oh my gosh, I’ve been dying to tell you what I saw Kyle doing the other day. You will_ not _believe—”_

_“Adora.”_

_Adora’s mouth clamped shut, and she frowned. Did she say something wrong? Oh. Maybe she wasn’t forgiven as she had thought. She knew it was too good to be true._

_Catra sighed and looked at her for a long moment, then reached forward and pressed a finger to the spot between Adora’s eyes. She jumped a bit at the sudden contact, but relaxed her eyebrows. Catra’s mouth lifted, just slightly, and her hand fell away._

_“If you keep showing the world how you feel, you’re going to have wrinkle lines before you’re twenty.”_

_Adora felt a teasing smile rise to her lips, relief filling her veins, despite Catra’s words about showing too much emotion. “Why do you care? Worried that you’ll be associated with someone ugly?”_

_A blush splotched itself across Catra’s face, covering her many freckles that Adora loved counting when she was bored. “Yes, that’s exactly why.” She snorted and knocked Adora’s shoulder with her own. Then, quietly, so soft Adora barely caught it, “you could never be ugly, though.”_

_It was Adora’s turn to turn red. Not quite sure how to respond to that, not quite sure if she was_ meant _to hear that, she looked down at her lap._

_“Adora, can we...can we talk? About the other day?”_

_She looked back up quicker than Catra must’ve expected, for she caught the nervousness and fear in her gaze that was immediately masked. She smiled softly, hoping it would be welcoming enough to calm her best friend’s nerves, and nodded._

_Catra had never voluntarily talked about one of their fights before, not without Adora’s poking beforehand. Whatever prompted her to bring it up first, Adora was clueless. All she could do was let Catra speak what was on her mind, and silently pray it all ended well._

_“I’m not dumb, okay?” Adora was taken aback by this, but she didn’t interrupt. Catra sighed. “I know that...I know that things aren’t as they always were. We aren’t kids anymore, and I can’t have you all to myself like I used to.”_

_Oh._

_“But...I hate seeing you with other people.” She ducked her head. “I can’t help it.”_

_Adora reached out to her, toilet paper forgotten, and clasped her wrist gently. “Hey. You still got me. I promise.”_

_A tear slipped from Catra’s face when she looked back up. Adora wanted nothing more than to catch it and wipe it away, wipe away all her worries, but she didn’t. “No, don’t you see? You’re leaving me, and soon I’m going to be all alone!” She ripped away from Adora’s grasp and hopped down from the sink. “Never mind. Forget I said anything.”_

_“Catra!” But the girl was already gone. She was faster than Adora, lighter on her feet, but Adora knew Catra. She wouldn’t go back to their room because it was too easy. Adora treaded lightly on the floor as she made her way back down the hallway and into their room. Sure enough, the window open._

_She shimmied her way through the opening and out onto the roof, the place she and Catra had designated as their own since they were little. Somehow, Ms. Weaver hadn’t caught them up there, yet at least._

_Catra was near the edge, hugging her knees to her chest and looking down at the sorry excuse for a backyard. There were more tears on her cheeks now than a few minutes prior. She swiped at them quickly as Adora approached and plopped down beside her._

_“Catra, I know things have changed. We aren’t in elementary school anymore, you’re right. I have..._ we _have more friends than just each other.” Catra curled in on herself. “But you’re still my best friend,” Adora pressed. Catra paused at that, peering up at her._

_“Promise?”_

_“I promise.” Adora held out her hand, and Catra took it. She pulled the both of them away from the edge, but didn’t let go. “I’m always going to be your friend, remember? No matter what happens or who comes into our lives.”_

_“And what if you grow tired of me?” It was small, but Adora still heard it fine. She gripped Catra’s other hand and squeezed them both._

_“Don’t be an idiot. I could never grow tired of you.”_

_“You don’t know that,” Catra contested._

_“You’re too…” Adora searched for the right word, a smile already forming on her lips, “unpredictable...spontaneous...for me to grow tired of you. If anything, I should be the one worried about you getting tired of me.”_

_Catra hummed. “Yeah. You are kind of lame.”_

_“Hey!” Adora giggled and let go of her hands to push at her arm._

_Catra finally let out a laugh, a real one, and Adora’s chest tightened for a moment. She wished her laugh was as small and charming as Catra’s, seeing as hers was loud and obnoxious and all over the place._

_“I’m going to come to your game next week,” Catra said once her laughter died down. “I think it’s time I see for myself what the big fuss about this_ star player _is.” She was referring to Adora, who was one of the best players on the team._

_Adora rolled her eyes. “She’s overhyped, if you ask me.” Catra’s smile faltered for a moment, and she looked like she wanted to say something, yet nothing came out. Adora continued, a piece of information from earlier that week re-entering her brain. “And hey, remember that Fall Out Boy concert you were wanting to go to?”_

_Catra’s eyes lit up, and she leaned into Adora’s side. Adora ignored the way her stomach fluttered. “You didn’t!”_

_Adora beamed. “I may know someone whose sister can’t go anymore, and has two tickets for sale.”_

_Catra let out a shriek, and it was as though she had forgotten all about being upset. She gripped Adora’s arm. “_ Please _tell me you got them! Holy shit, Adora, forget everything bad I’ve ever said about you. You’re the coolest person ever!”_

_Adora laughed loudly and pried away the fingers digging into her skin, but kept their hands intertwined. “I told her I was interested and to not let anyone else buy them until I got an answer from you.”_

_“Yes!” Catra all but yelled. She was bouncing in her spot, clutching Adora like a lifeline._

_“Okay! Okay!” Adora couldn’t help the smugness that overcame her voice. “I did good, right? I mean, they_ are _in the nose bleeds, but I am pretty amazing, aren’t I?”_

_“Don’t let it get to your head.” Catra tried to scowl, but her smile was too wide. “You already have a five-head the size of Russia.”_

_“Mhm. Mhm.” Adora raised an eyebrow. “So, what I’m hearing is, you_ do _like me, after all?”_

_“No way,” Catra shot back immediately._

_“Liar.” Adora reached a hand up to ruffle her hair, and Catra screeched again, shying away from her touch._

_“I don’t like you, you big oaf!” She snorted and dodged another attack._

_“Tell that to those tickets!”_

_They tousled around for a few more minutes, laughing under the light of the moon and not caring how loud they probably were. Adora hated when they fought because it meant being away from Catra. As much as they rough housed and argued over little things, there was affection beneath it all, love hiding in between every teasing smile and every insult with no real bite. Catra was her other half, Adora was sure of it. Just being away from her for a week was agonizing, even if Adora was good at hiding it. She couldn’t imagine what she would do if they got into a huge fight that tore them apart, like that book she had read recently. She hoped their relationship would never end up in such a heart wrenching way._

_Adora wasn’t sure what she would do without Catra by her side._

* * *

August quickly came to a close, and Adora’s senior year was off to...well... _a_ start. Since Mermista’s party, Catra had gone from ignoring Adora most of the time and trying to get under her skin when they had to speak to outright doing everything she could to get in Adora’s way, being even more of a nuisance than Adora thought she was capable of.

On her good days, Catra would just avoid any eye contact and maybe make a snarky remark. On her bad days...Adora tried to stay away from her. She liked to let the world know she was angry, at what, Adora didn’t know, but she would take it out on Adora through little things like attempting to trip her on her way back to her seat or shoving past her when they had to turn in a physical paper in government. In soccer, she would try to mess up Adora mid workout while simultaneously attempting to have a better performance. Adora wouldn’t classify it as bullying, just being as annoying as possible. A brat. 

Mr. Brian liked to hold debates once a week over a random topic in politics he found interesting. Anyone could participate, and it wasn’t for a grade, meaning the only people who spoke up were the talkative ones. Or the ones who liked to argue. 

Adora liked to speak her mind every now and then, but found that no matter what she said, Catra would refute it, even though they held the same political beliefs. She would pick through every word of Adora’s arguments to find any faults and criticize her for them. And what was even more aggravating was the fact that Catra was _good_ at arguing. Better than a majority of the class, and there was a way that she spoke that commanded everyone’s attention, even the people in the back who liked to play games on their iPads or sleep. 

A couple times, Mr. Brian had to stop the two of them before things grew too heated. One of the times, he had them physically move their desks back a foot because they had gotten up in one another’s faces arguing over the dumbest thing: healthy eating in public schools. 

Of course, with Catra’s daily third period snacks and the eating habits Adora knew for a fact hadn’t changed since she left the home, it was obvious where she stood on the issue. 

“No matter what I do, Catra is right there to fight me on it!” Adora flopped back against Glimmer’s bed. The mattress had much, much more cushion than Adora’s. Normally, Adora hated sitting on Glimmer’s bed, but now, she took comfort in the way she sunk into the mattress. Like a way to hide from her problems. 

“Have you asked Mr. Brian to give you a new seat?” Bow questioned from his place in the chair swing in the corner. “He’s pretty chill.” 

After a long month of trying to find a day where all three of them were free to hangout, they were finally together. Not for long, as Adora set aside time to work on college applications with Mara, but it was something. Most of the application process was easy and she could do it fine on her own, but all the family information and relations could get a little complicated, especially since Adora only knew so much about her past. 

“No,” groaned Adora. From behind her, Glimmer started playing with her hair, pulling it out of the ponytail. Every scrape of her fingers to her scalp was like heaven. “I don’t know if I can, since our seats are based on our beliefs.” 

Bow hummed in understanding. He had Brian second period. Maybe Adora could ask her counselor to change her schedule so she would have government and economics second period and pre-calculus third. But that would also mean Catra won.

“You just need to ignore her.” Glimmer’s nails ghosted over a sensitive spot, and Adora sighed. “Don’t feed into it.”

A snort escaped Adora’s lips. “You’re one to talk. Literally every time one of you gets too close, someone ends up hurt.”

Glimmer swatted Adora’s head lightly, though there was humor in her voice when she spoke. “It’s not my fault her face is so punchable.” 

The three of them laughed. Adora missed hanging out with her friends all the time. They spent nearly every day together over the summer, soaking up what was left of their freedom before the hell that was senior year and the life following it took it away from them. Now, with Adora’s always-on-the-go schedule and Bow and Glimmer’s two and three hour band rehearsals nearly every day of the week, along with the amount of homework and responsibilities they all had, Adora was lucky enough to still see them at least once a day at school. 

“Hey, enough of this Catra talk.” Bow shook his head. “We shouldn’t be giving this much thought about her when she probably never thinks of us.” 

“I know. She’s just so—“

“Annoying,” Glimmer and Bow said together, in the exact same monotone voice. If Adora hadn’t known them for three years already, and hadn’t known that they grew up together, it would’ve almost been creepy. 

But she just chuckled, used to them being able to read her mind and being so in sync with one another. 

She and Catra used to be like that. Not so much anymore. 

* * *

How hard was it to put clothes back where they were found? 

Catra shoved another dress onto the rack labeled _dresses/rompers_. She was traipsing around the small secondhand shop she worked at, Next Door, reorganizing and waxing the racks. Some idiot decided to put a bunch of dresses they tried on with the women’s size seven jeans. Well, while she was in the jeans section…

She walked back to the beginning of the jeans rack and dropped her bucket of wax paper and clothes still needing to be returned to the right spot. With one hand, she thumbed through each pair, making sure they were all the right size. She hated when one pair was measured by the waist, as she had forgotten the proper conversions and would have to look at her cheat sheet on the back of her name tag. 

It was going to be a long night, that she knew for sure. 

For one, this job would usually be assigned to the newest person crazy enough to take a job at the store, as it was essentially busy work and was boring as hell. But since they hadn’t had any new people for a while, they rotated out the despised job by sections of the store, and tonight, Catra was assigned to dresses, jeans, and men’s sweaters. Jeans were the worst, because they were so bulky, and because they left a gross residue on her fingertips, but they were also the biggest section in the store, which meant plenty of time to zone out.

She had also promised Octavia, her dumb boss, that she would stay late and help set up for the summer clearance sale starting the next day. Really, Catra couldn’t afford to work overtime, as she had a giant load of homework to complete waiting for her back home, possibly still in the car after Lonnie dropped her off once school ended. 

But, setting up for an event usually took about two hours. 

And that meant money. 

As much as she hated this job, only having taken it because Ms. Weaver made her since one of her former wards was the manager, it paid decently, and overtime pay was slightly higher. Every penny Catra earned was another penny saved for college. 

Once upon a time, she didn’t give a shit about school or grades or homework. Then, a wonderful thing known as sophomore year hit and reality slapped her in the face. 

Freshman year had been all shits and giggles. Catra had barely scraped by with her grades, passing only so she could play soccer in the spring. When she was a sophomore, though, suddenly everyone was interested in college this and college that. Teachers and peers. The question of where Catra wanted to attend school was asked a handful of times by her teachers. Up until then, she hadn’t even thought much about life after high school, figuring whatever future she managed to make for herself wouldn’t be all that great anyway. Ms. Weaver certainly wasn’t going to pay for her education, and most of Catra’s money came from the job she used to work as a soccer ref for kid’s games. It paid well, and Catra had a secret soft spot for children, but it conflicted too much with Ms. Weaver’s schedule. 

The idea of going to school for art sprung to her mind that year. She considered herself a decent artist, though she would rather die than show her work to anyone she knew in real life. There was just something so personal about it, something so vulnerable, and Catra hadn’t allowed herself to be vulnerable to anyone in over three years. 

And look where that got her. 

She could dream all she wanted about going off to art school and making a living as an artist, but the odds of that happening were slim. So, she got her act together and actually started paying attention in class and doing her homework. 

God, being a good kid sucked. 

Adora had always been a good kid, a goody-two shoes, the teacher’s pet. It used to bug Catra to no end. Still did. She was the perfect student, every teacher’s dream. Always showed up, turned in her homework on time, paid attention in class, participated. Ugh. Even when she messed up, it was quickly forgotten because she was so _perfect_. 

She always had something to say in Brian’s class, whether it was to speak up in a debate or to ask a question or to add in commentary no one cared to hear. And in soccer...oh ho ho. If Catra didn’t love the sport so much, and if being on Bright Moon’s team didn’t open up a new window for her in college, she would’ve quit by now. The girl never shut her mouth, even though it was the first period of the day. 

It sucked the most when she was in charge of leading a workout for the day, being a captain. Catra had to watch her from behind during a run, or go with whatever pace she set when they were forced to work through every exercise as a team. She had gotten much more muscular since freshman year, Catra noticed. Yeah, they played against one another once a year and saw one another in public sometimes, but somehow she had failed to see just how much more defined her arms were. And when they got away with stripping their shirts on an especially warm and humid morning? 

Catra felt her cheeks warm up at the thought of Adora’s abs. 

She slammed a hanger to the left a little too hard. One side of the jeans came loose. She cursed under her breath and fixed it before moving on. 

Okay. So Adora had lost her baby face and gained some muscle in the places Catra found the most physically attractive in women. Whatever. So Catra had spent three years avoiding Adora and doing her damndest to not look at her too hard when they were near each other. She left her dumb little crush back with the rest of her cringey middle school memories. Even if Adora had been the reason she found out she was the farthest thing from straight. 

She was over her crush, and over Adora. 

Finishing with the jeans, she tossed another misplaced piece of clothing into her bin along with a couple broken hangers. She made her way back to the front of the store to drop the hangers in the trash. There were a total of two people in the store, and from the looks of the sky outside, it was going to rain. 

Yep. A long night ahead of her. 

Just after eleven, Catra escaped the prison of Next Door and clambered into Scorpia’s 2004 Ford Explorer. Scorpia worked a similar schedule to Catra at the Chick Fil A down the street, so on the nights Catra was car-less, she could catch a ride with her only friend, if Scorpia even qualified as that. Catra certainly didn’t treat her like a friend. 

“Hey! I smuggled out some mac and cheese for you if you’re hungry,” Scorpia said once Catra shut the door. She held out the bag for Catra to take. The smell of cheese made her stomach grumble. Working in a second hand shop that smelled like laundry detergent and something else Catra had yet to identify could make one forget they were hungry. She snatched the bag and the fork that followed. 

“Ugh, you’re an angel,” she practically moaned, digging into the carb filled goodness. Food could turn her mood around very quickly. 

Even though it was dark out, Catra could tell Scorpia was blushing. Shit. Sometimes she said things she shouldn’t when food was involved. 

“Aw, just being a good friend.” 

No. No no. That needed to be shut down immediately. 

“I need to quit this job.” Anything to get the subject _away_ from friends. “I can’t keep hauling my ass over here to work at four when school’s out a quarter till and Bright Moon is twenty minutes away.” 

“Well, have you asked Octavia to shift your schedule fifteen minutes later?” 

Catra snorted. “And get the shit beat out of me? No thank you. That bitch has been waiting to get back at me since I caused her to go blind in one eye when I was six.” 

Scorpia hummed. “Oh. Right. Yeah that’s a bit of an issue. How did you do that again?” 

“Threw a baseball at her face because she was being a bitch and because she has a dumb face.” 

“Right.”

Silence filled the car. Catra leaned her head on the window, eyes catching on the puddles in the road and on the sidewalk that reflected the stop lights and stars and moon in the sky. Rain sucked. It was depressing and Catra already had enough of that stuff in her life. She hated it. But she had to admit that the time after rain—when the air was clean and the ground reflected the world above and there weren't a million people going in a million places at once and everything seemed at peace—was beautiful. 

“Soooo.” Catra held back a groan. She was too tired to talk right now. “Bright Moon, right? It’s ah...it’s something.” 

“Yeah. Something,” Catra mumbled. The school was leagues different than Horde, with its shiny floors and big stairwells and a grand front and new _everything_. The janitors must’ve been paid well to keep a school like that as clean as it was. It was truly the best public education could get, probably even bordering on being as good as a private school. And with the surrounding area being as rich as it was, well, the school had plenty of extra funding that the district fell short on giving them. It for sure wasn’t Horde. 

Catra wasn’t sure if she liked it yet. She definitely wasn’t a fan of the people. Entrapta, the nerd in her bio class, was alright, she supposed. Different like her, not fitting in with the rest of the crowd. Some of her teachers were decent, too. It was just the jocks. The preps. The _we’re richer and more talented therefore we’re better than you_ crowd. Adora’s crowd. 

“They’re really nice there!” Scorpia chirped, turning a corner. “I was expecting, well, uh, the opposite.”

“Are we thinking about the same people?” Catra glanced over at the driver, eyebrows raised. “The same stuck up snobs who won’t get in fights because it’ll ruin their Filas?” 

“They’re not all bad.” 

“They’re _all_ bad.” 

“Is someone still bitter about the party?” 

“I never was!” 

They stopped at a red light, and Scorpia glanced over at Catra. 

“What?” Catra bit. 

“It’s okay if you want to talk about it.” Scorpia smiled, and Catra wanted nothing more than to wipe it from her face. 

“I don’t.” She turned her head back to the window, forehead now wrought with tension. 

“You know,” Scorpia said as the light turned green, “Adora doesn’t seem too bothered by that as you are. In fact, she’s still really nice to me in pre-cal.” 

_That_ little bit of information had Catra whipping her head back around. “Wait, you two are in pre-cal together?” 

Scorpia grimaced slightly. “Oh. Yeah. Um. Did I not tell you that? We’re kind of, uh, seat buddies.” 

Oh, so Little Miss Golden Child wasn’t actually so perfect. Adora was horrible at math, always had been. Really, Catra shouldn’t have been surprised she wasn’t taking an advanced class, but Adora was so fucking stubborn about those kinds of things, and Catra expected her to be a pushover. 

Suddenly, Catra’s night became a lot better. 

“Is she a complete bonehead in there?” She leaned over the console to grin at Scorpia, who only eyed her with slight confusion. “Does she have to ask a million questions? Oh! Does she ask you for homework answers?” A tiny part of Catra hoped the last part wasn’t true, as certain memories came flooding back to her, but she smothered it. 

“Wh..why does it matter?” Scorpia passed the middle school. They’d be at the home in a few minutes. 

“Because this is hilarious!” Catra threw her hands up. “God, she’s always acting like she’s better than everyone else, and for once she’s taking a regular class?” She barked out a laugh. “Holy shit, I’m better than her at something.” 

“Wild Cat,” Scorpia began, and Catra groaned. Things never ended well when Scorpia pulled out the dumb nickname that Catra had given up on threatening her for using. “I get that you and Adora have...a history. You grew up together and know all these wonderful...I mean...horrible things about one another.” 

Catra glared at her. 

“But, I don’t know, don’t you think it’s maybe time to stop obsessing over her?” Scorpia’s voice was so tiny that Catra had to crane her neck to hear it properly. And she had good hearing. 

“I don’t obsess over her!” Catra lashed out, then flinched back from Scorpia. She took a deep breath. “I’m just tired of her trying to one up me. It’s always been that way since we were kids.”

“Okay, well, for someone who isn’t obsessed, you’re kinda, maybe acting like it.” Catra opened her mouth to refute, but Scorpia presses on. “All I’m saying is, maybe you need to just forget about Adora and focus on yourself. I care about you, Catra, and I don’t want to see you put all your energy into Adora. Remember freshman year?” 

Yeah. She did. How could she forget?

The car had stopped, and Catra realized they were in front of her home. Not that it even qualified as a proper home. Just a place to sleep. Shelter. 

“And what do you suppose I _put all my energy into?”_ Catra’s voice was venom, but it helped to mask the blush on her cheeks from Scorpia’s words. People weren’t supposed to care about her. She refused to let anyone care for her again, knowing that it only ended in heartbreak. 

“Art school?” Scorpia offered. Catra’s heart nearly stopped. 

“Don’t talk to me about art,” she snapped. Scorpia dropped her eyes, and Catra almost felt bad. Almost. She still let her tone soften. “I gotta get inside before Weaver skins me alive. See you tomorrow?” 

She was already out the door before she could get a response, walking up the uneven sidewalk to the house. 

“Catra!” 

She rolled her eyes and slowly turned, tilting her head expectantly at Scorpia, who was staring at her from the car, passenger window rolled down. 

“The game tomorrow, do you want to go? I already talked with Lonnie and the others and they want to.” 

The last thing Catra wanted to do on a Friday night was go to a Bright Moon football game. But, if her friends were going, the majority of them also suffering under Weaver’s reign, then she might as well. Better than being stuck in a tiny house with no one but the cranky old hag for company. 

“Sure. Whatever. But you’re buying my ticket.” With a wave, she watched Scorpia drive off before making her way inside. 

The house was dark when she stepped inside, though there was the glow of the television lighting up the living room down the long entry hallway and past the rickety staircase. Adora and Catra had mapped out the perfect path on the steps years ago in order to avoid being caught trying to sneak a midnight snack. 

Ms. Weaver was watching the late night news when Catra entered the living space. She hardly gave Catra a glance, only raising her wine glass to take a long sip.

“You’re late.”

Catra paused on her way to the kitchen and looked over her shoulder. “I had to stay after tonight to help set up for an event tomorrow. I told you that this morning before I left for school.” 

“I recall no such thing.”

Catra bit back a smart ass remark. Shannon Weaver was a bitch, but when she was drinking, oh, she was the devil. 

“I’m going to bed. Scorpia gave me some food so I’m not hungry.” Not that her guardian would care if she ate or not. Again, she turned toward the kitchen, wanting a glass of water to take with her, but Ms. Weaver wasn’t done yet. 

“I still don’t understand how you thought it was a bright idea to switch schools when there’s a perfectly good school right down the street.” 

Catra couldn’t hold back her snort. “Horde? A good school? Yeah, okay.”

“I can see how Lonnie and Kyle and Rogelio would want to change,” she continued as though she didn’t hear Catra. “They actually care about their futures.”

A chill went down Catra’s spine. Her hands tightened into fists. “And I don’t?” 

“Please.” Weaver rolled her head to finally look at Catra. She was definitely drunk off her ass. “Like there’s anything for you to even care about at this point, selfish girl. Why are you wasting your time at a school like Bright Moon when you of all people don’t belong there?”

“I belong there plenty,” Catra hissed, though even she wasn’t convinced. 

“Is it because of Adora?” Catra went cold. Weaver never spoke of Adora unless she was in a particular mood, that mood being torturing Catra. 

“What...what do you mean?” 

“You’re only in the program to see her, aren’t you? I thought the two of you weren’t friends anymore?” The way she slurred out friends didn’t sit right with Catra. Maybe it was just the mac and cheese. Gluten had never agreed with her stomach anyway. 

“We’re not. I want nothing to do with Adora.” Catra all but stomped into the kitchen to get her water, though the living room was still visible from the refrigerator. 

“What other reason have you for transfering, then?” 

“To get as far away from here as possible. Away from this house and from you.” With that, Catra slipped out of the kitchen from the other door and made her way back to the front of the house and up the stairs. 

Once again, Catra was reminded why Etheria was the worst place in existence. Not that she needed the reminder. First Scorpia, and now Weaver. Both laying into her about her choices as if they knew her. Catra was the only person in the world who knew who she was, and even then, she confused herself at times. But she would get out of Etheria. Already, she had started her college applications. The application fees were ridiculous, yes, but she would make do. She was only applying to a few schools anyway. Maybe she could work overtime a couple times a week and raise the prices on the commissions she did online. If she was desperate enough, maybe she would even result to doing furry art commissions. Not exactly up her alley, but money was money, and furries could pay well. She would make do, just as she always had. 

She had come this far, had raised herself way up from the bottom quarter to the top quarter of the class when she went to Horde. Bright Moon shouldn’t be any different, as long as Catra pushed herself to be the best. And she had soccer, something she was good at. Really good at. And for that reason she enjoyed it. 

She was determined to escape this hellhole, and no one was going to get in her way. Not Weaver. Not Scorpia. And definitely not Adora. 

In her room, Lonnie was already fast asleep. Her bag sat upon her bed, the pages and pages of homework waiting to be completed calling her name. 

A long, long night indeed. 

* * *

Half of Etheria always went to the home games. 

Adora shuffled past the dozens of people crowded underneath the bleachers. There were parents taking pictures with their kids who took part in the event, spirit wear sales, kids throwing a football or messing around in the grassy areas, high schoolers gossiping instead of paying attention to the game. 

All she wanted were some M&M’s. 

She followed behind Mermista and Perfuma through the sea of people. With Bow and Glimmer in band, along with Glimmer’s little shadow, Frosta, and Seahawk on the field, the three of them, plus Entrapta, who had opted to stay in her seat while they found food, were the only ones in their friend group not participating in the night’s events. So, when they had a home game, or a game nearby, they took advantage of watching their friends perform. 

They finally made it to the concessions and ordered after waiting in line for a few minutes. 

“Hey, let’s go say hi to Bow and Glimmer while we’re up,” Adora said to the two girls when they were heading back up the bleachers. She checked the board. It was nearing the end of the first quarter, and Bright Moon was winning by a few points. 

“Oh, yes!” 

“Ugh. Fine.”

She kept an eye on the game as they walked across the landing in the bleachers. The sun was beginning to set, turning the sky a beautiful pinkish-orange. It was the perfect weather for a game, with the hints of fall peeking through here and there. As much as Adora thrives in the heat, she was ready for cold weather again. 

The beating of the percussion instruments and blaring of trumpets and other brass grew more prominent the closer they got to the band’s section. Glimmer was easy to find, up at the front of the large ensemble, dancing with the other flutes and laughing. Bow...not so much. Since he was with percussion, he was further up in the mass of silver, white, and baby blue. 

Once the stand tune ended, Adora led Perfuma and Mermista up the steps. 

“Glimmer!” she called as they approached the flutes. 

The flutist looked over and grinned at them, beckoning them over despite the narrowed glances they got from Mrs. Brady-Mills, the head band director. Adora wasn’t worried about getting in trouble, though. She was Coach Netossa’s wife, and therefore fond of their little friend group. Not to mention that they were good friends with Glimmer’s mom, the principal. 

“Hi!” Glimmer’s forehead was already beading with sweat, even though the sleeves of her uniform were pushed up to her elbows. Her pink hair was pulled into a half up-half down style, her wispies flattened with gel and hairspray and bobby pins. Frosta stood beside her, a loyal shadow, looking just as pumped up as the senior girl. “Isn’t the sunset beautiful? I keep getting distracted by it.” 

The five girls fell into an easy conversation. Frosta was loud for just being a sophomore, and even more opinionated. It was almost comical. When Adora was a sophomore, she had been wide eyed and unsure about nearly everything she did. She had been outgoing, yes, but awkward about it. Frosta, on the other hand, just went in full force and with total confidence in herself. Adora supposed that was why Glimmer was fond of her; Frosta reminded her of herself. 

“Where’s Bow?” Perfuma asked, looking around at the oversized group of shoulder pad wearing musicians. 

Glimmer looked behind her and up toward the drum line, scanning the percussionists and pointing a finger up. “He’s there with the other front ensemble nerds. They don’t even have to play in the stands if you can believe that. Such losers.” Though there was a playful tone to her voice and zero malice. Her grin widened and she waved. Bow noticed them. 

Just then, one of the players scored a touchdown, and the drum line readied the band. Glimmer smiled at them before raising the flute to her lips and playing the fight song with everyone else, bobbing her head to the beat. 

Adora and the others turned toward the field to sing the words, clapping to every note of the band. 

_“Go! Fight! Win!”_

They cheered, then sang along once more as the football was kicked in between the goal posts again. Up in the press box, the announcer relayed the events to a roaring crowd, listing off numbers and last names. 

There really was nothing quite like high school football. 

* * *

High school football was the worst thing to ever be invented. 

Scratch that, football in general sucked. 

Catra should’ve just stayed home, where she could’ve hid under the safety of her covers on the top bunk with a water bottle, a snack, her iPad, and stylus. 

Friday nights were a luxury, really. They were pretty much the only time she let herself relax just a little bit. With nothing due the next day, and no work to wake up early for, she could lie in bed for hours after dark and just create whatever she was in the mood for as she played music from one of her many playlists. 

And tonight, she was spending it being dragged by Scorpia through the overenthusiastic crowd of Bright Moon worshippers. Honestly, some of these people probably had no relation to the school other than they lived in the area. It was quite the turnout. Certainly not Horde, where parents and students were the only people to ever show up to games. 

They hung out in the student section for a while until Catra nearly blew up on another senior who was throwing toilet paper around. Seriously, it was like these people just didn’t care about wasting. They had probably never even known what true struggle looked like, the privileged bastards. Had never been taken from their home at the age of three to go be in the system until they turned eighteen. No. They all had perfect and happy families to go home to after tonight. 

Catra lasted all of five minutes sitting in between the morons of Bright Moon High before she tugged at Scorpia and Lonnie, telling the boys that they were going to get some snacks and go to the bathroom. 

Under the bleachers wasn’t much better in terms of obnoxious supporters decked out in Bright Moon’s awful school colors. And if they weren’t wearing white, silver, and light blue, they could just buy spirit wear from the vendors. No big deal. 

They went to the bathroom, a musty and suffocating place pulled straight from the deepest depths of hell. Catra did her best to ignore the crickets crawling along the floor and walls as she peed. 

“What do you say we get out of here and grab something to eat?” Catra asked Scorpia and Lonnie while they washed their hands. “I’m already sick of this—“ 

Overbearing laughter rang out through the large bathroom, and in came tweedle dee and tweedle dum, along with three of their misfits. Oh, Christ, Catra didn’t think Sparkles could look any more horrendous in that uniform. And that _hair—_

“I had to hurry to pick up my mic and get on the prop before any of the directors saw me,” Glimmer bemoaned, though she was smiling. “God, it was so embarrassing. You should’ve seen Spinnerella’s face, Adora, before she called me out in front of everyone. And you say Netossa is the scary one?” 

Adora snorted. “Coach can be pretty intense. She’s literally guessed all of our weaknesses before and used them against us in practice.” 

“Seriously?” The five of them laughed. “Why would she do that?” 

“She said it was supposed to make us stronger.” Adora shrugged. 

“And did it?” Perfuma piped up, toying with the end of her “flower power” tank top. 

“I don’t see how being a terrible actor is any use in a soccer practice, so…” Adora made a face and waved her arms around. 

They disappeared into the stalls, and Catra pulled Scorpia and Lonnie around the corner. As expected, they went unnoticed by the sunshine group. 

“What are we—“

“Shh!” Catra glared at Scorpia, who brought her hands up in weak defense. Lonnie simply raised an eyebrow at Catra, but said nothing. After living together for over a decade, the girl was no doubt used to Catra’s stunts. 

After a few minutes, the girls came out of the stalls to wash their hands, picking up the conversation where they left off. Catra turned her head to hear better. Lonnie let out an exasperated sigh, but she ignored it. 

“She’s making us do part two tonight,” Glimmer said with little enthusiasm. “That’s the ballad when I have my solo.”

Her friends were quick to reassure her, especially the short and very young looking girl also dressed in the same get up as Glimmer. For a band geek, she was extremely pale. It was obvious Sparkles was overcome with nerves, from the way she was curled in on herself and had her hands tightened into fists at her sides. But she did a good job at mostly hiding it, enough for Mermista and Perfuma to walk outside the room to get better cell reception. 

“You’re going to kill it,” said the younger girl, grinning. She punched Glimmer in the arm roughly, and Glimmer rubbed the spot. She glared at the girl. 

“Hey,” Adora intervened, voice gentle. She placed a hand on Glimmer’s shoulder. Catra stiffened. “It’s okay that you’re nervous. Just remember that they picked you for the solo for a reason. Frosta’s right. You’re going to kill it.”

Glimmer finally smiled, and let Adora pull her into a tight hug. Frosta invited herself in, wedging her body between the two girls. 

“Thanks, Adora. You’re the best.”

“That’s why I’m here.” Adora pulled back first. “Now, c’mon, before you get into trouble for being gone for too long.”

They left the bathroom, already ranting and giggling over a completely different subject. 

Catra wasn’t an idiot; she knew that Adora had moved on years ago and made a new life for herself, surrounded by new and shinier friends. She knew that Adora was closer to Glimmer and Bow than the rest of her friends, but she wasn’t aware of just how close. The easy way the two of them communicated and how open they were with each other about their emotions...that used to be Catra’s. Adora used to belong to her and she used to belong to Adora. Until Adora’s family and Bright Moon and _Glimmer_ stole her away. 

What was that about a solo?

Catra didn’t wait for the other two as she headed out of the bathroom, already forming a plan. 

Until she nearly butted heads with a purple haired nerd.

“Hi, Catra! Hi Scorpia, Lonnie! ” Entrapta waved to the three of them, unfazed that Catra had nearly given the both of them a concussion. She had an iPad perched on one arm, the screen lit with graphs and charts and data tables. 

“Shit, Entrapta.” Catra took a step back. “I didn’t see you there.”

“It’s quite alright.” Entrapta beamed at her, then started walking off in the opposite direction. She whipped out her phone and began speaking into it. 

Catra shared a look with Scorpia and Lonnie before following after Entrapta. “Hey, wait a second!” 

Entrapta’s voice faltered, and she stopped the recording. She turned back around with a slight down turn of her lips. 

“What are you doing here, anyway?” Catra asked, putting on her friendly face she reserved only for when she wanted or needed something. And Entrapta was smart. Like, hacker level smart. Brilliant, even. And Catra had an idea. “You don’t seem the type to be at a football game.”

“Oh, believe me, I’m not.” Entrapta shook her head, pigtails flying around her face. “But, it’s a great social experiment, don’t you think? I’ve been working on social experiments a lot this year as a way to learn more about human nature and tendencies. Human beings, after all, are fascinating creatures.” She got up into Catra’s face and showed her the data and statistics she had already collected. It all looked like nonsense to Catra. 

She took a single step away from the eager scientist and pushed the iPad away gently; personal space was important to her. “Yeah, totally. Hey, listen, are you here with anyone?”

Entrapta thought about it for a moment, then nodded firmly. “Yes, actually. I came with Adora, Perfuma, and Mermista, but they walked away a while ago to get food from the concessions.”

Catra made a tutting sound with her tongue, crossing her arms and looking back at Scorpia and Lonnie. “Do you guys hear that? Abandoned by her own friends. That’s not very nice of them.”

Entrapta frowned. “They didn’t abandon me. I willingly stayed behind to learn more about football and the way the crowd reacts to certain...what do they call it? Plays?” 

“Well, I can guarantee you that they’ve forgotten about you.” Catra reached a hand forward and drew her fingers through one of Entrapta’s pigtails. “If I know anything about Adora, she’s forgotten that you even exist. She cares more about her own agenda than anything.”

“Catra, I don’t know if this is--” Lonnie was silenced with a glare. “Ugh. Fine. I’m going to go find Kyle and Rogelio before one of them does something stupid.” Never one to get involved in Catra’s schemes. Whatever. Catra didn’t need her. 

“Why don’t you stick with us for the rest of the night?” Catra returned her attention back to Entrapta, who was glancing between her and the iPad in her grasp, uncertainty in her eyes. “Unlike Adora and her pathetic friends, we don’t leave people behind.”

It wasn’t like Catra was just spitting bullshit; she had been around Entrapta for a month now and had kept an eye on her. She sat next to the girl every day and struck up a conversation, at first interested in her because of her wit, and then because of Entrapta’s status among Adora’s friend group. She had made it clear to Catra from day one that she was an outcast, though Catra wasn’t sure if she really knew it, or even cared. Even among her supposed friends, Catra noticed that Entrapta was left out from a lot of their conversations and hang outs, whether it was because she chose to be left out or because they failed to invite her. 

“Well, I guess I could,” Entrapta hummed. She glanced down at her screen, mumbling to herself for a minute as she swiped. “It would be a great chance to get some information on a different grouping of people, especially one as peculiar as yours.”

Catra had no idea what she meant by that, but the acceptance brought a smile to her lips. 

“Great!” She moved to sling an arm around Entrapta, forgetting about personal space for the moment. “I have an idea that you would just _love_.”

* * *

A good portion of the student section never stayed in their seats for half time, but Adora always did. As much as marching band and the fine arts in general confused her, she enjoyed watching her friends perform on the field, and was the loudest person cheering when there were moments in their marching show meant to cheer for, even against the bedazzled and overhyped band parents. 

Mermista and Perfuma were on either side of her at the front of the stands, all three leaning over to get a better view of the performers on the field. Glimmer had told her before she had to leave to warm up exactly where her solo was in the show, and Adora could tell it was coming up. Some brass players were on the ground in front of the big prop stationed at an angle on the left side of the field, or as Glimmer called it, side one, whatever that meant. The players were rolling around on the turf, which Adora guessed qualified as dancing. And then there was Glimmer, gliding to the top of the prop, flute in hand. 

Except when she played, Adora heard nothing. 

Even from her spot in the stands, Adora caught the momentary flash of fear in Glimmer’s facial expression. It was immediately masked, and the girl kept on playing as though the mic attached to her person was working. Too soon her shining moment was over, and Glimmer was disappearing behind the prop again. Adora cheered as loud as she could, though she felt the secondhand mortification at such an incident happening. Glimmer took everything personally, and this was going to be no different. Already, Adora was planning a midnight run to their favorite breakfast place, where they often frequented following football games. Chocolate pancakes would cheer Glimmer up after tonight’s events. 

“What was that?” Mermista asked once the band exited the field, the crowd still clapping from their fight song closer to re-announce the football team. “You know Glimmer is, like, probably freaking the fuck out right now.”

“Was her mic broken or something?” Perfuma added, worry in her forehead. “She was so stressed about tonight. I can only imagine the pain she’s going through right now.”

Adora watched the band members walking along the track, and then followed the small group of members going in the opposite direction, toward the front ensemble set up. She spotted Glimmer immediately, who went straight to Bow and buried her face in his chest. A lump formed in her throat. 

“I...I don’t know.” 

“Well _that_ was embarrassing.” 

Adora swivelled around, surprise immediately being replaced by a scowl. 

“What do you want, Catra?”

The girl in question was leaning against the rail two feet from Adora, examining her nails with disinterest. Scorpia was with her, along with...Entrapta? Wait, what? 

“Entrapta, why are you hanging out with these losers?” Mermista asked for Adora. Usually set with a blank, unreadable visage, Mermista was now the living embodiment of vexation. She was normally so nonchalant about most people, unless they rubbed her the wrong way or did something to piss her off. Adora thought back to the party, when Catra had attacked her. There was still a mark from where her nails caught Adora’s jaw, and it would probably fade into a scar. Mermista may have been a lot of things, but Adora had learned that she was protective of two things: her home, and her friends. Mess with either and get shoved to the girl’s hit list. In Catra’s case, she messed with both. 

“Hi guys!” Entrapta greeted them, bubbly as always. “Catra offered to hang out with me since you guys left, and you will never believe what I got to do--”

Catra placed a hand on Entrapta’s shoulder, gently pushing her back. The motion silenced her, and she fell behind Catra. 

“Entrapta and I have Bio together.” Catra smirked at Adora, as though the words were meant to hurt her. “She’s crazy smart, right?”

“What’s this about?” Adora snapped, doing her best to burn a hole into Catra’s glinting bicolored eyes. Eyes that Adora once admired and found endearing when they used to be the object of ridicule among their classmates in elementary school. Eyes that she would stare at in the middle of class until she was caught staring and had to pretend as though she hadn’t been, for her own dignity. 

“It really is a shame your girlfriend didn’t get to play her little solo,” Catra taunted. “I was really looking forward to it.”

Adora ignored the bite about her and Glimmer. She grabbed Catra by the collar and shoved her back against the railing, not even caring that they were in a very public place where police officers were present and just waiting for any trouble to arise. 

_“What did you do?”_

Catra’s mouth fell open slightly, eyes widening in what could only be described as shock. She stared at Adora, face paling, as though surprised. At what, Adora remained clueless. Then the expression was gone, quickly schooled by bored indifference. Almost amused. 

“ _I_ did nothing.” She had the guts to grin at Adora. “Can’t say the same for Science Girl here.” Her gaze left Adora to look behind her. Adora followed her eyes to Entrapta.

“Entrapta,” Perfuma said slowly, suspicion and disbelief creeping into her voice, as if she could already tell what Entrapta did. Adora was beginning to catch on. Her fingers grew cold around Catra’s shirt. “What did you do?”

“It was simple, really!” The enthusiasm in Entrapta’s voice was like a kick to the throat. Adora really couldn’t blame her, if she thought about it; Entrapta lit up whenever someone inquired about her work. 

“The band uses this giant soundboard for all of their sound effects and for their microphones,” Entrapta explained as though she were telling them she had seen a puppy. With Entrapta, technology had the same effect on her as puppies did on other people, so she might as well have. “And since they labelled every microphone with who it was connected to,” she shrugged, “it was simply a matter of bypassing the main controls and disconnecting her mic without it appearing on the screens to alert the tech people of what happened.” She let out a laugh. “I’ve been wanting to touch their equipment for years, but they’ve always turned me away when I asked. With Catra’s help, I was finally able to get my hands on that beautiful sound box!”

Adora felt her grip slacken on Catra, and her former friend took the opportunity to push her away. “Entrapta, why? Glimmer’s your friend. _We’re_ your friends.”

“It’s nothing personal, Adora, it’s just science.” Entrapta shook her head, tone lighter than the clouds in the night sky. “And the insatiable need of knowledge!”

“But, Glimmer is probably really upset over that,” Perfuma said. She was so good at reading people and understanding their emotions, a lot of times knowing more about them than they did. Now, there was only confusion and shock laced in her words. “Friends don’t hurt other friends, Entrapta.”

“Some friends you are,” Catra interrupted, eyes locking with Adora’s. Heat flooded her cheeks. “Always leaving Entrapta behind, not caring about her interests. Not that I’m surprised. All you Bright Moon bitches are the same. Selfish and narcissistic.” The declaration bit into Adora, going straight for her throat, and then her heart. Catra was talking to her and her alone, not the others. 

“I told you,” Adora began slowly, doing her best to keep her voice tame, “to leave my friends out of this. What you did to Glimmer was low, even for you.”

“And I never agreed to leave anyone alone, Princess,” Catra threw back in her face. “You can’t boss me around.”

Adora gave her a long look, a cold, unrecognizable expression boring back into her, daring and stubborn. How was this face the same face Adora had grown up seeing every day? The face she often used to lay beside under bed covers, whispering secrets to and sharing grins. The face that only tore down its walls when around Adora. When she was in middle school, Adora read a book where two people who loved one another with every fiber of their beings became the object of one another’s hatred. She hadn’t liked the book, thinking it to be unrealistic. After all, how was it possible to bask in the light and warmth of the sun for so long and then suddenly harbor an immense loathing for the way it glowed too bright some days and the way its heat was too much at times? At the time, she didn’t understand how it was possible to hate something or someone once held so dear to the heart. She still didn’t understand, all these years later, yet Catra’s face was now foreign to Adora. It seemed as though Catra understood just fine.

But Adora couldn’t bring herself to that same level, to hatred. Because somewhere underneath those hard eyes and tense jaw was the teasing grin and rosy cheeks and expression of utter openness and trust Adora knew. Just the ghost of it, though. Whatever remained was either well hidden or buried deep, deep down. 

And all Adora could feel was loss.

“Let’s go,” she told Mermista and Perfuma, finding that her voice was much smaller than intended. 

For three years, Adora aimlessly chased after the idea that Catra still cared about her, that she was just mad and upset. On the nights she found sleep to be fleeting, she would lie on her back and come up with a script for the next time she saw Catra, and the script almost always contained a long and drawn out apology and a begging for forgiveness. She sometimes dreamed that they were friends again, that they had made up and were happy like they had been as young and clueless children. 

All of that was before Catra was in her life on a daily basis again, and Adora finally saw her true colors. Even at the party, she had been clinging to that same childish hope that Catra would return to her and everything would be okay again. But now, looking at Catra, Adora knew she couldn’t keep hurting herself like this. Catra was gone. Catra had chosen another path that didn’t welcome Adora. Catra didn’t care about her like she once had all those years ago. 

The chase was over, and Adora had lost. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> idk why it would happen but if anyone comes for me and tells me idk what a high school football game is like, i’ll have you know i missed maybe three games total in all 4 years of high school, so the only inaccuracy i can admit to is the point of view while at a game.  
> -  
> if you liked, feedback is welcome and appreciated, and make sure to check out my other works! find me on tumblr, emybain, or my she ra side blog, adorascake, and say hi!


	4. Part 1: The Project

_“Got it!”_

_Catra carefully climbed down from her bunk, so as to not disturb the balanced books holding the blanket down on the end of her bedpost. It had taken a solid, very long, five minutes to get just the perfect weight and balance for the blanket to not slip, but it was worth it._

_When her feet touched the ground, she was met with a mouthful of blond hair._

_“I knew you could do it!” Adora was big on hugs recently, no matter the occasion, and now was no exception. Catra spit out the strands in her mouth and shoved Adora away lightly._

_“Shut up,” she said, though she was grinning from the praise, something she didn’t receive often. “And don’t go up there!”_

_Adora paused, one foot already on the wooden ladder leading to Catra’s bed. The foot fell to the ground with a soft_ plop _. Adora smiled sheepishly. “You’re probably right. Oops.”_

_Catra rolled her eyes at her and reached forward for her hand. “C’mon, I have a great idea for the rest of the layout.”_

_Together, they gathered as many pillows and blankets they could scrounge up from their room, and then when they calculated they still needed more, they discreetly snatched the needed supplies from various parts of the house. Excluding Ms. Weaver’s room, of course. Even if Adora was just as guilty as Catra was in their fort building, there was still the risk of them getting in trouble for making a mess._

_They worked in tandem to build their fort, their masterpiece. It required little speech between them, but they chattered away at one another’s ears anyway about anything and everything that came to mind. They had only known one another for a few years now, but it might as well have been forever. Some days, Catra wondered if maybe they shared a special bond, or maybe they were long lost twins, because they could practically read one another’s minds. Not technically, of course, but it was like their minds were linked together, on the same path. Like, if she were to cut an apple in half, one side would represent Adora’s brain, and the other Catra’s. It was little things here and there, such as Catra thinking the red blanket would work best situated by the window due to its size, and Adora would hang the red blanket by the window without Catra having to bring it up. Or Catra would reach for a pair of dirty cleats at the same time as Adora to place on top of a blanket to hold it there, and Adora would wordlessly nod and grin at her. Alas, Adora was months older, around nine months, so the possibility of them being twins was out the door. Maybe just the special bond, then._

_Off by herself on her own bed, Lonnie was reading a chapter book with a picture of a girl on front. The cover art, in Catra’s opinion, was hideous and unappealing, so it must’ve been the perfect book for Lonnie._

_Before they had started their mission in destroying their bedroom, Adora had asked the girl if she wanted to join in, but she had declined with one glare from Catra. They didn’t really get along, especially considering Catra was convinced Lonnie was scheming to take her status as Adora’s best friend._

_Now, she was throwing glances at them and their creation every now and then, muttering about how ridiculous they were and how Ms. Weaver was going to catch them and put them on dish duty for a whole month. Catra just stuck her tongue out at her and continued assembling the fort with Adora._

_Once the last blanket was laid down, their flooring, Catra crawled inside and marveled at their handiwork. Adora was right behind her, and she audibly gasped in delight. Not that Catra could blame her; the red blanket had been the perfect choice for in front of the window, as the sunlight streaming through the glass and onto the blanket turned the crawl space a soft pink hue. Catra met Adora’s eyes, and they grinned at one another before lunging forward to engage in a wrestling match. It was common for them to play fight like this on a daily basis, rolling around on the floor and using all of their arm strength to keep the other from gaining the upper hand. It was fun and carefree and almost always ended in a tickle fight, and Catra loved doing it. Adora was probably the only person she knew who was as rough as she was and who actually paid attention to Catra._

_That was why Catra knew she had made a wise decision when she was four and Adora was five to be best friends. They just_ got _one another in a way none of the other kids in the home did. Mostly everyone in the home was lousy or dumb or lousy and dumb and Catra didn’t care for any of them. If it wasn’t for Adora, she was pretty sure she would actually die of boredom._

_After a few minutes, the wrestling calmed down, and they settled on their backs in a fit of giggles, still shoving at one another’s hands lightly. Catra knocked her head against Adora’s gently, and Adora grabbed her hand, clasping it between her calloused palm (Catra had told her the monkey bars on the playground would give her blisters!) and dirty, bitten fingernails. Catra closed her eyes, basking in the warmth from the sun outside. Soon, she was going to find herself too hot to remain in the fort, but that was okay. At the moment, she was in a state of bliss. Her best friend by her side, the both of them hidden from the outside world and its cruelty by blankets and pillows, and the warm, welcoming promise of the warm Saturday afternoon sun. She could almost go to sleep._

* * *

_Catra was shaken awake._

_She rolled over onto her back and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. Her back was stiff from lying on the floor for too long; she stretched her arms up over her head to relieve some of the pain. Adora hovered over her, face scrunched up with worry._

_“Catra! Wake up! Ms. Weaver’s doing a surprise room check and we have to clean this up!”_

_“Hm?” was all Catra managed to get out, still in a drowsy state. What about Ms. Weaver?_

_She let Adora pull her up though, and followed her out the fort’s exit. The second her foot left the threshold, there was a curt knock, and then the door swung open._

_“_ What _is the meaning of this?”_

_Both Catra and Adora froze, staring up into the hard, unforgiving eyes of their caretaker. Behind her, Catra heard rustling. Probably Lonnie hiding to save herself._

_“Ms. Weaver, I can explain—” Adora began, stepping forward to take responsibility for their creation._

_But Ms. Weaver didn’t care to hear it. She pushed Adora out of the way to get to Catra, whose feet were still glued to the carpet beneath her. Catra gritted her teeth, ready for whatever punishment her guardian decided upon._

_“I asked you a question, girl, and I expect an answer. Now.” Ms. Weaver’s voice was much scarier when her face was inches away from Catra’s._

_“We were—we were just playing,” Catra managed to stumble out. She gulped. “We were about to clean it up when you came in.”_

_“I clothe you, feed you, give you shelter, and you repay me by back talking? Making a mess of my property? Stealing my things? For your own enjoyment?”_

_Catra shrunk back, fear lighting up her chest at the sudden calmness in Ms. Weaver’s tone; that was never a good sign._

_“Ms. Weaver, it’s not Catra’s fault!” Adora shoved herself between the two of them, holding her arms out at her side. “It was my idea! Punish me instead!”_

_“Adora,” Ms. Weaver purred, all traces of meanness erased from her features. Something hit the bottom of Catra’s belly. “What have I told you about listening to Catra? She’s only good for getting you in trouble.”_

_Adora’s response tightened the feeling in Catra’s gut. “I-I’m sorry. Please, don’t punish her. I’ll clean this up, and-and I’ll take dust duty for a whole month!” Catra blinked at her; Adora’s allergies hated the dust._

_Ms. Weaver’s eyes hovered over the room, then back at Adora. “If something like this happens again, I will not hesitate in pulling Catra out of soccer. I’m not going to waste money on a child who doesn’t care. Understood?”_

_Adora nodded, and Ms. Weaver was gone as quickly as she had entered. She watched the door for a moment, then let out a long sigh and turned to Catra, her smile shaky._

_“Help me clean up?”_

_Catra’s hands clenched into fists at her sides, and she moved forward, shoving past Adora to go hide up on her bed._

_“Catra?”_

_“If it’s your fault, then you can clean it up yourself,” Catra spat out, ignoring the hurt on Adora’s face. “How does it feel to be her favorite?”_

_“I’m not her favorite, Catra,” said Adora, exasperated. “I don’t know why she treats you that way. It’s not fair.”_

_“Liar!” Catra glared down at her from her bunk. “You know you’re her favorite, and you love it! Admit it!”_

_“I don’t!” Adora averted her eyes from Catra’s face and began collecting pillows. “I’m sorry, okay? This was a bad idea.” She sniffled and wiped at her nose, and that was when Catra realized she was crying. When did that start?_

_A sudden pang of guilt replaced the build up of anger in her stomach, and after a moment of watching Adora take down their fort slowly, as though regretting every movement, Catra sighed and scooted her way back down._

_“I’m responsible for some of this mess, too,” she grumbled when Adora parted her lips and stared at her with wide, red eyes. No need for her to be surprised. “I won’t let you clean up what I did.” After a second, she added, “But that’s it. You’re doing the rest of it.”_

_They cleaned up the mess at a turtle’s pace, the stacking of each pillow and return of stolen items used as weights like an arrow to the chest. Together, they folded the blankets up as neatly as their tiny hands could, doing their best to fold them just as Ms. Weaver liked. Little by little, the safe haven they had created within their bedroom was dismantled, and there was nothing left to suggest a fort had ever been made that weekend._

* * *

Sunday mornings became Adora’s favorite time out of the week.

No, she wasn’t referring to church. She had never been religious in her life, and Mara and Razz weren’t all too great about it either. 

On Sunday mornings, she rolled herself out of bed, got dressed in sweats, and headed out with Mara for their weekly scheduled 6 A.M. drive around town in Mara’s cherry red 1961 Chevrolet Corvette, affectionately named Darla upon Entrapta’s insistence, who was also a freak about vehicles. If Mara hadn’t been a near perfect driver, Adora would’ve been scared to get in the passenger seat, seeing as the car was no safer than a tin can on wheels. Darla was Mara’s main mode of transportation, and there were ten other cars sitting in the out building behind their house, all in gorgeous condition and loved dearly. Cars were...kind of Mara’s thing. 

In fact, back when Adora passed her driver’s test, Mara had insisted upon buying her a nice vintage car like her own, had gushed as she showed Adora photos of an adorable ’70s Chevrolet convertible, but Adora had to be the responsible one of the two of them and turn Mara toward the car she currently drove, a reliable 2011 Nissan Rogue that wasn’t crazy expensive. It took a lot of persuading, as well as promises to drive the cars in the backyard or Darla whenever she pleased, but Adora managed to win her aunt over. 

They had started going on these drives her junior year when Adora’s stress levels skyrocketed as the impending threats of senior and college loomed over her shoulders. Razz wasn’t a late sleeper, but she did like to be in bed for a while in the mornings, and Sunday was just about the only time all week Adora could spend some time alone with Mara while also relaxing. With Razz’s health teetering, and almost always needing to be looked after, their morning drives kept getting pushed earlier and earlier until they reached their current time. But Adora didn’t mind; she was an early riser anyway. Something that she hadn’t been able to shake from her time in the home. 

“How are your college applications going?” Mara asked after they got coffee to sip while driving. “Any more questions about where relatives went to school or if they work at a university?” 

Adora shook her head. “I think I’m done with all of the personal information. Now I’m just working on the essays and school stuff.” 

“And? How’s that?” Her aunt was always so nosy, but Adora knew she meant well. 

“Alright, I guess.” She shrugged. “There’re a lot of essays, but at least the questions aren’t too hard.”

Mara glanced over at her. “How many schools are you applying for again?” 

Adora did a mental count and took a big sip of her coffee, which she probably shouldn’t have done considering it was still blistering hot. “Eighteen.” 

A laugh erupted from Mara’s throat. “Eighteen? When I was applying for school, I only submitted six applications.” She paused. “Then again, Razz made me bring the number down from thirteen because she was afraid I was doing too much.” 

Adora looked out her window. They turned onto the old country road that led home, though they were probably going to drive around for a bit longer. She knew Mara had been an overachiever like her in her younger years; Mara liked to remind her all the time that it was okay to take a step back and breathe sometimes, that the rest of the world could wait for her. And Adora did take breaks. She wasn’t always hard on herself, or she liked to think she wasn’t. Not as much as she used to be, anyway. Mara was the reason she leveled down to regular science and math classes in her sophomore year after walking in on her in the middle of an anxiety attack at bedtime caused by an overwhelming amount of stress that wasn’t normal for a sixteen year old. She was still trying to convince Adora to go to therapy, but Adora just simply didn’t have time for that in her schedule and wasn’t sure when she would.

“What happened to Eternia?” Mara brought Adora back to the real world. “You had your heart set on going there all last year and over the summer.”

“I still want to,” Adora replied, and it was mostly true. The University of Eternia had one of the best soccer programs in the entire country, making it a no brainer that Adora had to apply. But it was also on the other side of the country, and so far, no one she knew was applying there as well. “But it doesn’t hurt to keep my options open, you know? And it’s not like I’m going to get in.”

“Adora,” Mara said immediately, her tone narrowed. 

“I know.” Adora sighed. “I can’t help it. I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to say sorry when you did nothing wrong.” Mara shook her head. “It’s not your fault.”

Silence grew between the small space between them. Even after three years, these kinds of things were a touchy subject for Adora. She hated that they were, hated that they even bothered her in the first place because they just _shouldn’t_. She was stronger than that. 

“Enough about college,” she finally spoke. “How have things been at work?” Mara was a lawyer, and a good one at that. It made sense, seeing as her aunt loved helping people, but Adora couldn’t imagine dealing what she had to deal with sometimes. 

If Mara’s gaze wasn’t fixed on the road, Adora had a gut feeling that she would be getting one of her famous ‘looks’. “What, like you don’t hear enough about me complaining when I get home every day or when I’m on the phone?”

“Nope. Definitely do not.”

“You really need to work on your acting.” Mara chuckled. “My job is boring. I want to hear all about your week, so stop trying to change the subject.”

Even though her tone was teasing, Adora still felt guilty. She shoved it down. “Fine.” And she opened up about everything Mara needed to know or Adora felt necessary for her to know. How she was positive she failed a test in Pre-Cal; how she wanted to go see one of Glimmer and Bow’s shows before their season ended, seeing as the band was having yet another good year; how her favorite horse, Swift Wind, was doing at the animal sanctuary she volunteered at. She purposefully avoided soccer and Gov’t and Econ’ because she knew Mara would ask how things are going with Catra, and Adora wasn’t awake enough to worry about that yet. 

It hurt, having to see Catra every day now that it was clear she despised Adora, that she had shredded up any remaining love she may have held for her from when they were kids. A day hadn’t passed since Adora left that she didn’t miss Catra, and she was positive that feeling would never go away. It was just...impossibly hard to forget the person you grew up with when they were constantly reappearing in your life. And her pain only worsened knowing that Catra’s smirks now were not the same smiles she would throw over her shoulder at Adora while racing to school; the gleam in her eyes was not because Adora had made her laugh, but because she was getting a kick out of finding ways to jab at the chinks in Adora’s armor; her laughter was full of emptiness and anger instead of innocence and joy. 

It was easier to shake off her taunts and to tell her friends and Mara that it was just Catra being Catra and there was nothing they could do about it instead of actually admitting how much it all hurt, and how guilty Adora felt for being the cause. 

* * *

_Congrats! You have successfully applied! Time to celebrate!_

Catra let out a sigh of relief and sat back in her chair as digital confetti flew across her iPad screen. Her last application was done. She had only applied to three schools, seeing as that was what her budget allowed, and because she only cared to make it into Krytis Art and Design School. But, it didn’t hurt to have a couple backups; there was a tiny part of her hiding behind her wall of confidence that doubted her ability to make it into the school. University of the First One’s was nearby and a common choice for many students in Etheria, and Prime College was a school a few hours down the road, and it was a school Catra was 100% positive she would get into, even if it had a bad reputation. 

The next step was to wait and hope that her hard work paid off, or else it would have been all for nothing. Until then, she could look up as many scholarships as possible. Krytis wasn’t cheap, and Catra had a decent amount of savings, but certainly not enough to pay for college. And with her future being as unclear as it was, she would rather not have student debt that would dig her grave for her. 

But. The first jump was done. That’s all Catra cared about at the moment.

She peered up over her iPad at the front of the room. Mr. Brian was in the middle of one of his infamous rants about history, something he did often. Today was supposed to be macroeconomics, but that had never stopped the man from going on about history or art or art history in the past. Once, he had spent an entire class period going on about art during the renaissance period in Europe, all because someone had asked a question before class began about his European history class offered in the spring. Catra never minded when he went on about art, finding it vastly more interesting than aggregate supply and aggregate demand graphs or the Bill of Rights.

No one was paying attention, at least on the left side of the room. The perks of being the most left leaning person in the class was that she got to sit at the very back, meaning she got to see just what kind of weird shit the people in front of her would do on their devices. One dude was on CoolMath Games, another was playing Minecraft, a girl was not shy about scrolling through an explicit tumblr blog on her iPad. These people were freaks, that was for sure. Another plus at being in the back was that Catra didn’t have to worry about people butting their noses in her business when she was trying to work on one of her pieces. 

Beside her, Adora was hunched over a pile of papers, laptop pushed to the side so she could scribble away angrily at whatever it was in front of her. Huh. She was usually the only person to pay attention to the lecture. Catra looked a little closer. There were bags under her eyes, she was in sweats, even her dumb hair poof she liked to do often was messy. 

She was brought back to reality by a piece of paper being passed back to her. She blinked at it, frowning. 

“I’m aware that midterms are still a few weeks away,” Mr. Brian explained. Catra glanced up at him. He was doing his typical stroll around the small space in front of the white board, arms crossed over his blinding, ugly Hawaiian shirt that Catra admired him for having the confidence to wear in public. Truly, he was probably one of the only teachers in this school she could stand. “But I wanted to give you guys plenty of time. I don’t really like doing midterms or finals, but the school requires me to put something in the grade book, so you’ll be doing a partnered project.” 

A few groans resonated throughout the room; someone asked if they could pick their own partners.

“No, I’ve already assigned partners.” Mr. Brian shook his head. More complaining. “Oh, stop whining like five year olds. Fifth graders could do this project, and you’re all smart, overworked AP students. This should be the easiest thing you’ll do in my entire class.” With that said, he started listening off partners. 

Catra glanced down at the paper, just a simple list of instructions and a paragraph describing what they would be doing. Really, this was something she could do in five minutes. Poorly, but still possible. Their job was to make a connection to something in government to something in macroeconomics; they didn't even have to choose subjects that they had learned yet, if they were up for that kind of challenge. There was a note at the bottom that stated for the students to not stress too much over it, and that it would just go in as a completion grade, but only if they did as the assignment asked. 

“Catra and Adora.”

Oh fuck.

Was he...was he joking?

“Seriously? Her?”

“Mr. Brian, would it be possible—”

“If there are any conflicts with partner decisions or questions about the project, please see me outside of class,” Mr. Brian said, pointing his gaze between the two girls.

The bell rang, as if on cue, and everyone began packing up.

It was like a race to the front between Catra and Adora; Catra won. 

“Mr. Brian, I can’t work with her,” she hissed between her teeth. Adora appeared beside her, staying a safe distance away. Catra really couldn’t blame her, or the hostility in her eyes when she looked at her. She earned it, anyway.

“Nor I with her.” Well, for the first time in years, they agreed over something. “Is there any way we could be with other people? Mermista and I—”

“Girls,” Mr. Brian said sternly, interrupting the both of them as Catra joined in on the protesting. They closed their mouths. “You two not liking one another isn't a good enough reason for me to switch up other people.”

“Then we can work alone,” Catra suggested. “I work better on my own, anyway.”

“If this was something I wanted to be done individually, I would’ve assigned it that way,” Mr. Brian explained simply. He looked between the two of them and sighed, sinking into his desk chair and reaching for his coffee mug, despite it already being the afternoon. “There are going to be times in your lives when you’re forced to work with people you don’t like. That’s just part of the real world. This’ll be good for the both of you, trust me.”

“And what if we get nothing done?” Adora asked. “We never agree on anything in class already.”

He let out a slow chuckle and quirked his head to the side. “I’m very much aware of that. Tell you what, if you’re still struggling on working together by the week before midterms, let me know, and I’ll let you work individually. Deal?”

There was no changing this guy’s mind. Catra was a good debater, something she prided herself on, but her teacher was a solid arguer, and could win just about any argument. She had learned that after overstepping her boundaries a few times during their weekly debates. 

“Deal,” said Adora, though it sounded like that was the last thing she wanted to come out of her mouth.

Catra toed at the carpet flooring and grumbled out a “Fine.”

She considered staying back and pleading with Brian, something she would normally never do, especially with a teacher, but this was different. How was she supposed to work and collaborate with the same girl who she had been messing with since school started, and who was the cause of a good majority of Catra’s pain? 

But she did nothing, and instead trudged a few feet behind said girl as they left the classroom and went opposite directions without exchanging a single glance or word. 

The next few weeks were going to be an absolute hell. She signed up for the stupid exchange program for money, not so that she could be around Adora and her goody-two-shoe attitude and be reminded of their ripped up past. But now they were going to be together in forced cooperation. For weeks.

Could this year seriously get any worse?

* * *

The answer was yes. Yes it could. 

A few days after the project was assigned, neither party bringing it up when they saw one another, Adora ruined Catra’s morning by jogging alongside her during their warm up in soccer. Catra did _not_ have running buddies. Running was something she liked doing by herself. It was a time where she could just let her mind roam and not be bothered by the rest of the world.

And Adora was disturbing that. Of course she would.

“Get lost, Grayskull,” Catra huffed, words bouncing with each thud of her feet on the paved track. “I know I’m irresistible, but I’m not going to be your running partner.” 

Even without looking at her, Catra knew Adora was rolling her eyes. “That’s not why I’m here.” Catra side-eyed her. She had already shed her shirt, and it would’ve been funny if she didn’t have those abs that caused Catra’s mind to go blank. They had been outside for less than thirty minutes. Leave it to Adora to be the first to get overheated. She had always been that way.

“Wanted to enjoy the view?” Catra quipped. Another quick glance in her direction. Adora’s face was red, and not from running. Catra tore her gaze away and focused on the track in front of her. She wasn’t quite sure what to make of _that_. 

“Cute,” Adora said after a moment, sarcasm lacing in her tone as if she hadn’t just been redder than a tomato. “We need to talk about the project.”

“What’s there to talk about? Confused over what we have to do?” Catra smirked. Adora was the last person on Earth to be confused over a simple assignment, especially in a subject she excelled at, but it was fun to push her buttons. Get a rise out of her. 

“We need to get started.” Ugh. Catra was hoping she had at least a week before the nagging began. But this was Adora. “Any ideas?”

Catra voiced her disgust, probably more dramatically than necessary, by pretending to throw up. “Can’t this wait? Like, until tomorrow, at least?”

“Other groups have already started. Mermista was telling me yesterday how—”

“When?”

“What?”

“When did I ask?”

A pause.

“You’re such a middle schooler sometimes, I swear.”

Catra shot a glare in her direction, but Adora gave her a look that said _Can’t take what you dish out_? She wanted nothing more than to wipe that stupid smirk from her lips. How, she hadn’t yet decided.

“I just don’t want us falling behind and our project being bad,” Adora said. “Listen, I want to work on this just as much as you do, trust me. But we don’t exactly have a choice, so can you please cooperate and stop being a stubborn brat?” 

Catra wasn’t sure what it was. Maybe the obvious worry in her voice and face, maybe the desire to get the nagging to stop, maybe because she knew deep down that Adora was right. But she let out a sigh and slowed her jog enough so they could talk a little easier. 

“Fine.”

Adora perked up at that, as if she hadn’t been expecting Catra to actually comply. “Great! I was thinking we could get a little creative to make ours stand out. I don’t have any concrete ideas, yet, but we can brainstorm!”

Catra hummed. “Fiscal policy and the New Deal. Brian’ll eat that up.”

“But we haven’t talked about the New Deal in class,” Adora pressed. She sped up a little and looked back at Catra with a frown. Catra made a face and caught up. 

“And? It literally says on the paper it doesn’t have to be something we’ve gone over in class.”

“Okay, well, that’s not even that creative. I’m sure someone else is already doing it.”

“Why does it matter? This isn't a science fair.”

“Because I want to do a good job on it.”

“God, you’re still this much of a people pleaser?”

Adora groaned but didn't respond. They ran in silence like that for a few minutes, turning a corner of the track, before she spoke up again. 

“Fine. We don’t have to decide now.” Her way of saying she planned on winning. “What about meeting times? I can do just about anywhere, and I’m free most days.”

“I can’t do Tuesdays, Thursdays, or Saturdays.” Adora’s eyebrow raised at this, but Catra continued quickly to prevent any questions. “And I only have a car half the time.”

“Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, then? We can just work after school in the library or something.”

Seriously? What was with this girl? “No way. Wednesdays only.”

“What? How are we supposed to—”

“And in the morning.”

“But—”

“That’s my offer. Take it or I won’t do anything.”

Adora was miffed, that much was clear. If she kept pushing enough, Catra could probably get her to suggest they just do their own projects and bring it up to Brian before midterms to get away with it. Which, that was the ideal outcome of this pointless little conversation. 

“Tell you what,” Adora said, and Catra’s ears perked. She knew that voice. It was the same one Adora used before daring her to do something or challenging her when they were kids. “We have two more laps. First one to finish gets to choose what we do and when we do it.”

They had known one another since childhood. Of course Adora still knew how to get to Catra and be successful, just as Catra knew how to poke her in the right spots. They ran a good twenty feet before Catra answered. “Deal.” And she was off, going at a full sprint.

Behind her, Adora yelled something about not being ready, but Catra didn’t care. Running was her strength, something she could do for a long time without getting tired. She had always been faster than Adora. As kids, they would race everywhere because they could. They were competitive about everything they did together, and were even competitive about who was more competitive. It was ridiculous, but it had been a defining trait in their friendship. Catra had only lost a handful of races to Adora and had won countless more in her life. This was nothing. Honestly, Adora must’ve forgotten every race they had ever had. Seeing as Adora had done everything in her power to forget all about Catra, she really shouldn’t have been surprised at that.

The two laps were easy, child’s play. Catra raced past her teammates, ignoring Scorpia as she called out her name in confusion. She could feel Adora on her heels, which only motivated her to widen her stride and quicken her pace. 

Her heart was racing, but not from the exercise; no, it was from the competition, the desire to win. 

As she predicted, Catra finished first, with Adora right behind her. Catra was grinning, trying to catch her breath and ignoring the weird look their coach was giving the both of them. 

Just as she was about to gloat over winning, Adora wiped her sweaty bangs out of her face and put her hands on her hips. She looked at Catra with something unrecognizable flashing in her eyes as she said, “You win. Wednesday mornings it is.”

Their coach called Adora’s attention before Catra got the chance to answer. Adora glanced back at Catra once more, then went to see what Netossa wanted. Probably to ask Adora to lead the next workout since they finished before everyone else. 

For a moment, it was as though they were middle schoolers again, racing home after school without a worry in the world. Catra had let herself fall back into that childish thrill, had let herself enjoy the race and forget the last four years. 

But reality slapped her in the face. She made her choice and Adora made hers. They couldn’t go back now. Not ever. 

* * *

“Seriously?”

“What? Is this...is this okay?” 

Catra stepped into the study room and dropped her bag by one of the chairs. They were in the library just past seven in the morning, bleary eyed and not happy to see one another earlier than necessary. In the month and a half Catra had been attending Bright Moon, she had yet to step into the library until now. It was nic. Really nice, in fact. The furniture was all sleek, there were charging stations for technology, and of course, private study rooms in the back. They weren’t anything special, just wood floors and the same furniture as the outside and glass walls. Okay, they were pretty special, now that Catra noticed one none-glass wall, a ceiling to floor white board with a TV in the middle. Horde definitely didn’t have anything like that.

“Of course you people have this shit,” Catra grumbled. “Whose mommy funded all this?”

Adora settled into a chair and raised an eyebrow at her. “Glimmer’s mom did, most of it, anyway.”

“That doesn’t count if the district backed her.” Catra fell into the seat across from her. Even the table had a whiteboard top. Unbelievable. No wonder the kids here were geniuses and went off to prestigious schools. 

“They didn’t,” Adora said shortly. She disappeared beneath the table to pull out things from her bag. Catra blinked. Well. She wasn’t really sure how to respond to that. Luckily, Adora changed the subject for her. “Okay. Fiscal policy and the New Deal, right?”

“Uh, yeah.” 

“Maybe today we could just brainstorm and do some research?” Adora reached for a pencil bag and pulled out an assortment of colorful gel pens. “Since we only have an hour before we have to be at soccer.”

“How are you not bothered by this?” Catra blurted out, surprising the both of them. Adora’s lips parted, drawing her attention to them. Catra flushed. “I mean, you hate me. Why are you acting like this is no big deal?”

Adora’s eyebrows scrunched together, and she gave Catra that same look she had the other day on the track. Catra decided it made her uncomfortable. “Because it isn’t a big deal. It’s a project, not us hanging out or whatever.” 

Catra sank in her chair. “Yeah. Right.” Except it was a big deal, at least to her. 

How was she going to last working on a project with her ex-best friend for three weeks? They had spoken more in the past few days than they had in four years. Catra was still hurt, even if they were going to the same school now, and she had made sure that Adora knew it before the school year had a chance to settle. Being at the same school had worsened her bitterness, if she really thought of it, because she was forced to see Adora be happy and unbothered with her friends in the life she had traded Catra for before freshman year had even began. She caught the glint of Adora’s necklace beneath her shirt, the outline of the ring on its chain, and gritted her teeth. Funny how such a tiny object could ruin her life, take away her best friend. And Adora still wore it, despite having no connection to its original wearer. That tiny thing still mattered to her, yet she had willingly let go of an entire friendship. But Catra knew that she had never mattered to Adora. If she had, Adora would've stayed. 

If Adora was unbothered by it, despite how many times Catra had jabbed at her, then Catra would be, too. 

They managed to jot down a little less than a page of notes before first period began, staying a safe distance from one another and keeping the conversation strictly about the project. It was awkward and stiff, but that was just how forced civility between them would have to be. 

Before they went to go change for soccer, Adora gave Catra her number, then stumbled over her words for the first time that day. “Ah, just in case you, um...just in case we need to contact one another.”

Catra looked down at the phone in her hand with Adora’s contact info pulled up. “What, did your number change or something?”

Adora stiffened, and Catra peeked up at her now blushing front. What did she— “...You still have it?”

Oh. Shit. 

It was Catra’s turn to be embarrassed. “Um. Yeah. I’m bad about deleting that kind of stuff, you know.” 

There was silence between them, which only made things worse. The phone in Catra’s hand was suddenly heavy. 

“Well, my number hasn’t changed, then, so…”

She all but shoved the phone back at Adora. “Great. If I need anything, I’ll...uh...I’ll text you.” She paused. “But you probably need my number, right?” 

“I don’t need it,” said Adora quickly. Her eyes widened, and her voice was quiet when she spoke again. “I’m...bad at that stuff, too.”

Oh.

This room was too small. Catra needed air, she needed out _now_ , or else she was going to suffocate or, or worse. 

“I’ll see you later,” she forced out, even though they had the same first period and would see one another in less than twenty minutes. She shrugged her bag over her shoulder and dropped her eyes to the wooden floors as she pushed open the door. She wasn’t even sure where she was going, but anywhere was better than that stupid little study room funded by Adora’s best friend’s mother. 

But. She couldn’t help and think about Adora’s words. Even after all these years, she still had a piece of Catra.

Whatever that meant.

* * *

They worked on the project at a steady pace, realizing by the second week that they would need to spend more time together to get it done and agreeing to meet Mondays and Fridays as well, like Adora had originally planned. Catra wasn’t too thrilled about it, but she cared about her grades now, so she would have to put up with seeing the blonde more than she cared to. 

It was easy, really, but Adora was a pushover, so she made them go above and beyond what was required. Honestly, Catra wasn’t sure why Brian had put them together. Not just because they argued so much in class and couldn’t stand seeing one another, but because they were just...so different. Catra had almost forgotten how serious Adora could get over dumb things like schoolwork, how she put all her effort into things that didn’t matter. The girl never relaxed growing up, and that habit was still very much present. 

They decided on making a poster after arguing over how best to display their work for a grand total of thirty minutes. Catra suggested a PowerPoint, easy and straight to the point, but that wasn’t good enough for Miss Perfect, who wanted their work to be physical and not digital. Not that Catra really cared what they did, but she was just trying to make it less time consuming. With a PowerPoint, they could’ve worked on it by themselves, something having a poster wouldn’t allow. But whatever. She was trying to be done with caring, especially when it concerned Adora. If she wanted to choose the long road instead of the short cut, Catra wasn’t going to stop her. 

For the most part, though, everything was going surprisingly well. They each chose parts of the project to work on when together and usually let silence fill up the study room. Sometimes, one of them would ask a question or make a comment concerning the project, but once a reply was given, they would grow quiet again. It wasn’t comfortable, exactly, but Catra had very little to say to her, and she was positive Adora had absolutely nothing she cared to tell Catra. 

One day while they were working, Catra working on sketching out the pictures they had talked about including for visual representation, Adora furiously typing away on her laptop on their shared Google Doc, Adora broke their normal silence.

“You’re drawing it out?” There was genuine curiosity in her voice, but the hairs at the back of Catra’s neck still stood up, and she waited for her to continue, to make a snide remark or bash Catra’s art skills. But when she looked up, Adora was only eyeing her and the drawing, head tilted and lip quirked up in confusion. 

“Um. Yeah.” Catra scooted a bit closer to the poster, as if that could hide her work from Adora’s judging eyes. “Got a problem with that, princess?” She tried to make it biting, defensive, but the accidental slip of the name made her shoulders curl in. Where did _that_ come from?

Adora didn’t appear to be bothered, her lip curling up even more. “No. No. Just. Thought we’d just print out some pictures, or something.”

Catra gave her a long look. “I thought you were the one wanting to make everything more difficult? Plus, I don’t want our citation page to be a mile long.” 

Adora’s eyes fell to the poster. Catra casually slid her hand over the sketch, cringing at how it was going to smudge. It was fine; it was just a sketch. “I didn’t know you were still into art.”

This caught Catra’s attention. “What?”

Adora scooted her chair closer; Catra scooted away. “You know what I’m talking about. You were always drawing in middle school and stuff.”

“You knew about that?” Project forgotten, Catra straightened and frowned at Adora. 

She might as well have said she was moving to the moon with the way Adora was looking at her. “Was I not supposed to? You weren’t exactly good at hiding it, at least...not from me.”

“Oh.”

Adora tilted her head down at the poster. “That’s really good, by the way.”

“...Thanks.”

What was she supposed to say? She wasn’t exactly very open about her art. People had no right to her personal business. They were judgemental and rude and would make assumptions about her just because she indulged in an activity that didn’t exactly fit the cold and shut out exterior she worked so hard to put up every day. And on top of that, the compliment was coming from _Adora_ , of all people. The same girl who supposedly hated Catra’s guts. 

They went back to work after that, but Catra couldn’t help but notice Adora’s attention flickering between her and the laptop for the rest of their time together. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gonna be honest im not a fan of this chapter, but as a great person once said, it eez what it eez. i think it’s because i keep thinking of this as a filler chapter, even though its not because it’s important for later lmao, and also bc i got hit with a phat wad of writers block and really struggled putting this together, despite knowing what i was going to write beforehand. anyway, if u enjoyed, feedback is appreciated and encouraged, and make sure to check out my other works as well and to come chat with me on my tumblr, emybain, or my she ra side blog, adorascake
> 
> i dont really get personal on ao3 (save the oversharing for tumblr lol), but i thought i’d mention im starting college on monday. i chose to do all online at my university, but i dont know the work load or what to expect, especially because this wasn’t the school i had planned on attending (thank u covid) sooo yeah. idk when ill be updating next for those interesting in this:( hopefully soon! 
> 
> thanks for reading!


	5. Part 1: Broken

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so like, just as a kind of heads up, this chapter deals a lot with catra’s mental state, and i would hate to upset or trigger someone without meaning to. Personally, i dont find this chapter that bad, but i just wanted to post this because everyone’s different:)

_Catra watched Adora pack from her bunk._

_She was miffed at how lax Adora was about the whole thing, how she even seemed happy. She hummed along to the music playing in her earbuds; Catra recognized the tune, a band she had introduced Adora to last winter. It used to tug at her heartstrings whenever Adora listened to them, as it was indication that Adora liked something Catra picked out for her, but now, it just worsened the knotin her chest._

_Adora was leaving. She was actually doing it._

_Catra’s eyes fell to Adora’s neck as she bent over to pick up a hoodie and fold it, the ring with the bright blue stone dangling from a necklace shining tauntingly back at her. She hated that thing. She wished, for a fleeting moment, that Adora never found the stupid object. If she hadn’t, she wouldn’t be packing right now. Instead, they would be off at the mall, or the soccer field at the park down the street, or taking a walk, or doing anything other than this. They would be talking about soccer and trying out for Horde’s team, as they had been all summer, overconfident in their abilities to make the team. They would be trading dreams about high school like they did in that early stage of summer when everything seemed so bright and hopeful, and Catra was happy._

_But no. Their summer together, and in Catra’s case, her life, came to a crashing halt all because of a stupid ring and a stupid long lost family._

_She couldn’t stand watching Adora happily pack up her entire life, so she sat up and hopped down._

_Adora pulled an earbud out. “Where’re you going?”_

_Catra shrugged, keeping her eyes anywhere but on Adora. She didn’t want to give her that satisfaction. “Maybe a walk. Haven’t really decided yet.”_

_Adora huffed and moved closer, pointedly putting herself in Catra’s line of sight. “I thought we were hanging out?”_

_Catra raised an eyebrow at her, then nodded toward the suitcase and boxes of belongings beside them. “I didn’t know hanging out meant watching your best friend pack up her whole life like it doesn’t even matter.”_

_A long, tired sigh escaped Adora’s lips. “Seriously, Catra? You’re still going to be mad at me for this?”_

_“I’m not mad,” Catra shot back in a tone that very much gave off the impression that she was mad. She faltered, then lowered her voice to a normal level. “I just don’t care to watch you throwing yourself a little going-away party.”_

_She tried to move past Adora, but Adora had always been bigger than her, so it was an easy block. She even had the audacity to place a hand on Catra’s shoulder, which Catra immediately shrugged away, despite wanting nothing more than to hold that hand in her own and never, ever let go._

_“We’ve talked about this,” Adora insisted, crossing her arms. “I’m literally going to be no more than twenty minutes away.” She paused, then added as a slight blush tainted her cheeks, “Maybe thirty minutes. I can’t remember how far into the country Mara and Razz live.”_

_“It’s not about that.” Catra glared at her. “I don’t care that you’re going to be living on some farm riding horses all the time, or whatever, okay?”_

_Adora rolled her eyes. “It’s just a small house on a few acres on the outskirts of town. You’d know that if you had gone with me the other day to see it.” The hairs on Catra’s neck raised at the blatant accusation._

_“Why should it matter to me?” Catra crossed her arms, and before she could tell herself she shouldn’t, she said, “It’s not like I’m going to visit you or anything.”_

_Adora looked as though Catra had slapped her; she took out the other earbud. Catra wanted to take back the words right away, but stood her ground. “What?”_

_“You really think I’m going to go out of my way to come see you?” She forced out a laugh. The shovel was already in the ground. Might as well keep digging. “You must be dumber than I thought.”_

_Adora turned away quickly, but Catra still caught the tear that slipped down her face. “Why can’t you just be happy for me?”_

_Catra watched as she began packing again, though now her folding was messy and distracted. Adora always made use of her hands when upset. “What’s there to be happy about? Big deal, you’re finally getting the life your ego deserves.”_

_Adora paused, one hand in her suitcase. “Listen, I’m sorry that I’m leaving. I really am. But I talked to Mara, and she said that you—”_

_“I don’t give a shit what your aunt said,” Catra hissed. The mention of the people taking Adoraaway sickened her, an aunt and a grandmother who didn’t even know of Adora’s existence until a month ago. “You’re choosing strangers over…”_ Over me _, “over your home. Your entire life. So you can take your half-assed apology and throw it out because I’m not stupid enough to actually believe it.”_

_Too angry to leave the room, out of fear for what she could do out of impulse, Catra shoved past Adora to climb back up to her bunk and hide from the world._

_“I thought you were leaving,” Adora said bitterly._

_“I changed my mind.”_

_The conversation ended just like that, and silence took over the room once more. Catra made the effort to avoid Adora the rest of the evening, though it hurt. She sat next to Rogelio at dinner and across from Lonnie instead of her normal place by Adora, who sat by Kyle, conversed only with Lonnie once all the wards were dismissed to bed after their nightly chores, as much as she hated it, and went to bed without a single goodnight to Adora._

_Her streak was ruined when Adora shook her awake in the middle of the night._

_“Can we please talk?” Adora whispered. Catra pushed her off and sat up, rubbing at her eyes._

_“Huh?”_

_“About earlier. Please?”_

_Catra shook her head to wake herself up a little more and remembered that she was supposed to be mad with Adora right now. “I dunno, can we?”_

_“Catra, please.”_

_But Catra really, really didn’t want to, because she knew the second she tried talking about this in a civil manner, she would break down into tears. So she did what she always did, and used anger to cover up her pain. It had always been her comfort, anyway, a nice wall between herself and anything that posed a threat. “Just leave me alone, Adora. Can’t you see that I don’t care?”_

_She didn’t wait for a response before burying herself into her pillow. Adora still sat there, motionless on Catra’s bunk. It was weird for her to be up here; usually it was the other way around. But not anymore. Never again._

_“Fine,” Adora whispered, and oh, Catra could only curl closer into her mattress to get as far away from that pained, tearful, beautiful voice as she possibly could. She swallowed hard and forced herself to go back to sleep, though it was possibly the most restless sleep in her life._

_When she woke up again, sunlight streaming through the single window in their bedroom, Adora was gone, along with all of her belongings. It was like she had never even been there, never lived her entire life in that tiny bedroom. She hadn’t even bothered to say goodbye, but could Catra blame her, after the night before?_

_Legs like jelly, Catra crawled down to her bunk, which was made neatly in true Adora fashion. It pissed her off, so she did what she did best, and destroyed a perfectly good thing._

_When she was done, chest heaving and bedroom now a mess of sheets and pillows and blankets, Catra sank into the mattress, curling up on the side Adora would always take when they had sleepovers growing up._

_She was gone. She actually did it._

_And left Catra crying her eyes out on her old bed, finally broken._

_Broken, and alone._

* * *

Really, Catra was not in the mood for any bullshit today.

She had woken up late after staying up trying to finish her bio homework after getting home from work, had missed her meet time with Adora for the project, endured a handful of insults from her guardian about how irresponsible and lazy and selfish she was for sleeping past her alarm, got her ass handed to her in soccer when she ate turf in a drill after getting the ball straight to her head (a common casualty that came with the risk of playing such a sport, but painful nonetheless), and had forgotten to complete the backside of a worksheet for bio because she had been completely focused on the other piece of homework her lovely teacher had given them. All before lunch, of course. Honestly, it was a miracle she even managed to put her shoes on the right feet that morning. 

Bad days were nothing new to Catra. She had had a bad _life_ , after all. It was just when Ms. Shannon Fucking Weaver got involved that things went from bad to worse. The lady was like some sorceress or some shit, because she had the ability to ruin Catra’s entire day with no more than three words sometimes. There was just something about the way she said things, how she phrased her sentences, that set Catra on edge. She had given up on pleasing the old hag long ago, knowing that she would never truly be accepted or appreciated by the woman. Nothing she did ever brought a smile or an approving nod to Ms. Weaver’s face. When she got a good grade, it was always _Why isn’t it higher_ ? When she was caught drawing it was always _Stop wasting your time on that garbage_ because _only the truly talented are successful._ When she did her chores on time, somehow she missed a spot. When she did _everything she was asked of without so much as opening her mouth,_ there was room for blame somewhere. The list of Catra’s faults was miles long in Weaver’s book.

Now in third period, she felt like she would finally have a chance to breathe. For being an advanced class, it was her least stressful period of the day. She could kick back in her creaky chair by the window, sketch while half paying attention to the lecture, and just forget about how shitty things had been up until that point for exactly an hour and half. 

Except today, Brian had other plans for them.

He was giving them class time throughout the remainder of the week to finish up their projects, or, in some cases, get started on them, so that they wouldn’t have to worry about them along with their other midterm grades. Really, it was a nice idea, but Catra groaned at the thought of abandoning her comfortable chair and being forced to converse with Adora. 

But she traipsed after her anyway, iPad in one hand and her bag slung over her shoulder, as they left the classroom to find a more quiet place to work. Some of their classmates were doing the same, claiming chairs in hallway corners or spots against the wall. 

Adora led her toward the main hallway in the upstairs wing, completely blind to the fact that Catra was a good five steps behind her. Whatever. It wasn’t like Catra cared to walk beside her. They ended up at the very end of the hallway, near the main stairwell, where there were a couple high tables and barstools beside the railing overlooking the first floor’s grand hallway entry. 

“Is this okay?” Adora finally turned around, eyebrows raised in question. “Thought it’d be more quiet down here.”

Catra shrugged in response and set her things down, and that was that. They got to work in silence, leaving her to her thoughts. She considered switching over to her bio homework, since it was online and she was scheduled to work until eleven that night. For whatever reason, her teacher assigned nearly twenty pages of homework due the next day. Thank every star that Catra had Entrapta’s number; the girl would probably just give her the answers if she texted, seeing as she was two steps away from brilliant and could finish long homework assignments like these in a breeze. 

But. If she worked on her homework instead of the project, she risked the chance of Adora getting pissed at her. They had already been dancing around one another for weeks; it was honestly a miracle that nothing had happened yet between them. With the way Catra’s day was going, she preferred to keep it that way. 

Honestly, Catra didn’t understand what Adora’s problem was. Once upon a time, she had been able to read the girl as though she were a children’s book, but now, it was like deciphering Shakespeare with English being a second or a third language. It was frustrating as all hell that she could just go about her day, unbothered by their ragged past, and show up to their meetings with the optimism and work ethic of a literal angel. Not that Adora was an angel, or anything. She annoyed the shit out of Catra. 

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, leaning forward to rest her chin in her hand. Adora had been nothing but calm and, dare she say, nice to Catra the entire time they had been working together. No cocky remarks, no eye rolls, nothing. She always greeted Catra with a smile and parted ways with a friendly wave. And...Catra wasn’t really sure how to feel about that. She didn’t care for any sympathy or phoniness, or whatever it was Adora was trying to sell. But, conversely, Catra had found herself looking forward to her early mornings. When she got dressed upon waking up, Adora unwillingly crossed her mind, and some days, that small, intrusive thought was enough to make or break an outfit decision. If she received a text from Adora, her heart rate quickened, only to deflate when Adora was asking yet another question about their project; their entire conversation, less than a few scrolls, were just Adora’s inquiries and Catra’s five-or-less word responses. 

She hated it. Every last bit. And she scolded herself now for even thinking of it in the most inappropriate time possible. 

“Earth to Catra, are you there?” 

Catra jumped in her seat, dropping her stylus that had remained unused the entire time they had been there. Adora was looking at her, eyebrows raised suspiciously. 

“Wha-what?”

Adora blinked. “I asked if you feel okay. You look a little pale.” 

Catra made a face and scoffed. “Like you would care.” When Adora didn’t react or look away, she added, “Yeah. Fine.” Accompanied by an eye roll, of course. 

She returned to her iPad and the chart she had been working on last time they were together, but could feel a pair of blue eyes on her profile still. For a moment, she figured whatever, if Adora wanted to stare, let her, but when she didn’t get back to work at all, Catra groaned. 

“What?”

Adora pushed her notebook aside and gave Catra a long look. “You’re acting weird. What’s wrong?”

That. Was unexpected. Catra masked it with a disgusted grunt. “I’m not. What, did you hit your head or something on the way here?”

“Oh that reminds me, where were you this morning, anyway?” Ugh. She really didn’t need this on top of everything else; her head was still pounding from being attacked by a soccer ball earlier. 

“Some stuff came up.” Catra waved a dismissive hand. “It’s not like we needed to work, anyway. We’re almost done, and way ahead of everyone else.”

Adora tilted her head. “So you were too busy to shoot a quick text?”

“Can we just get back to work?”

“Because I sat in the library for forty five minutes waiting,” Adora continued, as though she didn’t even hear Catra’s complaint. “I tried texting _and_ calling you, and you didn’t even bother responding.”

“Maybe I was too busy to reply,” Catra snapped, gripping her stylus in between her fingers. “The world doesn’t revolve around Adora, remember? Shit happens. Deal with it.”

Adora muttered something under her breath, but Catra was too tired to try and make it out. “An explanation would’ve been nice, though. It’s called common courtesy, not that I would expect any coming from you.”

“Who died and made you queen of the universe?” Catra let go of the stylus before it snapped. Not that it was nice, or anything, but she didn’t have the patience to stop by the store for a new one any time soon. “I don’t owe you shit.”

“I didn’t mean it like that and you know it.”

“Do I now? What, can you read minds or something?”

It felt like they were kids again, arguing over the dumbest things in the universe, except at the same time it was a whole new territory that Catra was hesitant to explore. Yet, there was an urge deep in her gut, egging her on and stroking the burning fire within her. It was like dominoes falling; once she started, she couldn’t stop. And Adora was no better. They had grown up together, had shared personalities and traded characteristics that made them who they were today, and Adora could be just as stubborn and hot headed as Catra was; she just did a far better job hiding it than Catra could ever dream of doing. 

“Just a simple, ‘I can’t make it,’ would’ve been nice!”

“I had a bad morning, okay? Is that explanation enough for you?” 

“It would’ve been three hours ago.” Adora had now fully abandoned her work as well. She was the worst at multitasking, having always had to concentrate on one thing at a time to give it her full undivided attention instead of multiple like most people could do. She played with her pencil, though, and Catra immediately recognized the old habit. 

“Well, I’m telling you now.” Hoping Adora would just forget about it if she stopped talking, Catra focused on her iPad again. If Adora tried to change the subject again, she would simply ignore her. 

For a few minutes, Catra began to believe that maybe Adora had let it go. And then she broke the silence between them, though her voice wasn’t much louder than a murmur. “You don’t have to be this way, Catra. Not with me. I can tell something’s wrong.”

Catra couldn’t believe her ears. She should have been angry that Adora dared suggest such a thing, and the words did unsettle her a bit, but...there was also an underlying comfort. A comfort that had been buried under a mound for years, hidden from the warmth and light of the sun and left in solitude. Still, it was. A bitter comfort. Adora had left her; she didn’t have the right to say how Catra could or couldn’t act around her when she was the cause of Catra’s pain. 

“And how do you know?” Catra snapped, her hardest glare forming in her eyes. “You don’t know me at all. You never did.”

Adora’s hand, which had reached out a little in Catra’s direction, retracted into her lap. “That’s not true.”

But Catra didn’t want to hear it. “You don’t get to just butt into my life whenever you please, Grayskull.”

“I’m not trying to,” Adora said, exasperated. “But like it or not, we used to be friends.” She paused. “I thought we were best friends, so of course I can tell when something’s wrong with you. Even if...it’s been three years.”

Catra didn’t really have a response to that, having felt like she was hit by a truck at the mention of their past friendship. Adora continued when she remained silent. “Was it Ms. Weaver?”

Her eyes went wide. “You don’t get to talk to me about her.”

“I just wanted to make sure you’re okay,” Adora said defensively. “Because you clearly aren’t.”

She wanted to scream. Or throw something. Or scream while throwing something. “Listen, Princess. You don’t know a damn thing about me, so get off your fucking high horse.” This time, when she tried to get back to work, picking up her stylus, Adora reached across her and grabbed her iPad. “Hey!”

“You know, I’ve been nothing but nice to you for weeks now. Since school started.” Adora held the device out of Catra’s reach, hugging it to her chest. “I get that you don’t want to be friends, okay? But that doesn’t mean you get a free pass to be a bitch to me when I’ve tried to be civil.”

“Give that back,” Catra hissed, hopping down from her chair to grab the iPad from Adora. _No one_ was allowed to touch her stuff, especially her iPad. She had saved up for it for months, working long and extra shifts just so she could try out digital art, something she’d admired for years. It was her baby, her second skin, her diary, whatever sappy thing people wanted to call inanimate objects they were attached to. 

Adora stretched her arm out and stood, using her height over Catra to prevent her from retrieving her stolen device. “Is this all you care about? God, have you ever thought about anyone other than yourself?” 

Still, Catra reached as much as she could, not caring how up close and personal she was getting with Adora. But every time her fingertips just brushed the screen, it was gone. No amount of cursing, even pleading, made Adora give it back.

And then Catra’s day became a nightmare.

She had always rolled her eyes at books that described bad incidents happening in slow motion, but now she understood them wholeheartedly. As she thought she gained the upper hand, having pinned Adora against the railing overlooking the first floor with nowhere to go, Adora held her arm out behind her a little too quickly. Horrified, Catra could only watch as the iPad slipped from her fingers. Even with her quick reflexes, Catra couldn’t catch it in time, not with Adora blocking her. 

They both fell silent, or maybe the blood roaring in Catra’s ears had made her go deaf. She backed away from Adora, barely aware of how her body was trembling from her head all the way down to her toes, or how cold she was. No, she was completely numb. 

“Catra,” Adora began, voice shaking with obvious regret. Well, at least Catra’s hearing still worked. 

“What is going on out here?” They both whipped their heads to the voice, belonging to a teacher or maybe one of the vice principals. Catra didn’t really care. And she didn’t care to address them.

“You...you…” She couldn’t keep the emptiness from her voice as her throat started to close up on her. She wanted to scream, or do something other than just stand there like an idiot. 

Adora stretched her arm forward, but Catra recoiled from it. “Catra, please, I—”

“Stay away from me,” Catra forced out, feeling as though she were yelling but it wasn’t as strong as she wished for it to be. “I-I-I…”

“That’s enough,” the teacher (or vice principal) said sternly. “What class are you ladies in?”

Adora did the explaining for the two of them, as Catra refused to open her mouth, afraid of what could come tumbling out if she did. She was already battling tears, losing slowly the more she let herself dwell on what had just happened in a matter of seconds. Adora. Her iPad. All that money…

There was no way Catra would be able to come up with that money again, not for a while, anyway. Not with college being her main priority. If she were more level headed, or maybe just a little more optimistic, she would’ve allowed herself to breathe knowing that she had been smart enough to save all of her completed work to multiple places. But her sketches, her ideas, her work-in-progresses…those were gone. All because she hadn’t thought it necessary to save those as well. Her iPad had always been an extension of herself; she took care of it like it was her own life, so of course she hadn’t found it to be necessary. 

Even after their teacher got involved, giving the both of them a detention for the outburst along with a disappointed lecture that Catra was sure was aimed only at Adora, she let her legs take her down the stairs. She could feel eyes on her, both Adora’s and Mr. Brian’s as they waited for her to return to class, but she didn’t care. She didn’t care about anything anymore. Nothing mattered.

The shattered tablet in the middle of a foreign hallway was proof of that. 

* * *

Adora tried to apologize, tried her damndest to get Catra to acknowledge her for the remainder of the class period. Her pleas only worsened the weight on Catra’s chest. 

This was what happened when she and Adora collided; she knew that damn well, had been fully aware of the fact for a long time now. Every time they ended up together, it never ended on a happy note. Their friendship. Every moment since. And now. 

She never should’ve let her guard down in the first place. None of this would be a problem if she had just acted as though nothing was wrong. Really, it went further back than just today. She never should’ve let half the things that had happened in the past few weeks happen, because all of the small talk, all of the forced civility, had led Adora to believe that she and Catra were on good terms again, or some shit. On good enough terms for her to butt into Catra’s personal life like she used to when they were younger. Because that was just how Adora was. Even if someone didn’t want her help or didn’t ask, she still wanted to feel like a hero by trying to fix their problems for them. It never mattered if they felt better afterward, no, it only mattered if Adora’s ego was nurtured throughout it all. 

Well, Catra hoped Adora’s ego was through the roof.

Coming to this school was a mistake, Catra realized that now. She had been lying to herself the entire time, telling herself that she was there for the scholarship and for college so that she could actually have a chance at a future. Yes, that was true, but she had also come to see Adora. She wanted...she didn’t really know. She wanted Adora to see how much better off she was without her, wanted Adora to regret ever leaving her, wanted Adora to. What? Apologize? Beg for forgiveness? 

Catra refused to accept any apology, just as she refused three years ago. Adora made her choice and Catra made hers. She vowed to herself long ago that she was done with best friends because she couldn’t go through what Adora put her through again. 

So why, after what had happened, did Catra feel betrayed? 

The only way to fix this was to forget. Forget Adora and friendship and just do what she used as her excuse for being at this dumb school so she could get to college and out of Weaver’s cold clutches and as far from this hell of a town as possible. Her iPad was gone. That she couldn’t fix. But she still used sketchbooks and enjoyed making physical art on paper and canvas. She would be okay. 

As long as she stayed on task.

No more being nice or wasting her time on people who didn’t give a single shit about her.

* * *

“Hey! So, I was thinking,” Scorpia began the second her eyes landed on Catra, who hadn’t even been two steps out the door of her calculus class when Scorpia pulled her to the side. Catra suppressed a groan, knowing exactly where this was going. Scorpia’s face lit up when Entrapta left the room, the last one out, and called her over. “I was thinking the three of us could use some gal time! You know, Super Pal Trio style!”

“Will there be tiny food involved?” Entrapta grinned, shrugging her backpack over her shoulder. Catra knew that she carried all of her textbooks instead of leaving them in some dusty corner at home like every other normal teenager, so the effortless handling was impressive. If only she cared.

“There is now!” Scorpia said excitedly, already pulling out her phone to look for restaurants or places for them to go.

But Catra wouldn’t be partaking in their activities. “Listen, guys, I’m not exactly in the mood, so I think I’m just gonna head home.”

That wasn’t good enough for Scorpia. Catra wasn’t dense enough to think that she would be off the hook so easily. “Wait, Catra, hold on!” 

“No, Scorpia.” Catra glared up at her. “My answer is no.”

The hallway was beginning to clear up as people went home, leaving the three of them loitering outside the many classrooms where teachers were still very much present. Catra had to keep her voice leveled unless she wanted two detentions in one day. 

“I know you’re upset about...earlier,” Scorpia said anyway, changing her wording when Catra tensed up. “But this’ll cheer you up! A little best friend time, no stress or worries, c’mon, you know you want to.”

Catra looked between her and Entrapta, both so bright eyed and hopeful. Honestly, how did they like her? She was nothing like them, and only put up with their company because it was better than nothing. Well, not anymore.

“Are you deaf?” She let out a cold laugh and chose not to let the way Scorpia cowered affect her. “Or are you just stupid? I said _no_.”

“I’m picking up on some traits of stress,” Entrapta observed, moving forward to examine Catra’s face. “Is your heart rate normal? Are you feeling easily irritable or tired?”

“Get away from me!” Catra shoved her back; Scorpia caught her before she could trip and fall.

“We’re worried about you, Wild Cat—”

“Don’t call me that!” she snapped. Gulping, she began to turn away from them so she could leave before she lost her temper. If she did, she wasn’t sure if she would make it out okay like normal. “Just. Leave me alone. And stop talking to me. I don’t need friends, and I don’t need either of _you_.”

She walked away as fast as she could, as though that would help her tune out Scorpia insistently calling her name. 

Not that she cared. She never did. 

* * *

Scorpia, obedient as ever, didn’t try to talk to Catra following Catra’s mini breakdown. No texts, no messages on social media, no walking together between classes, not even a wave or acknowledgement in passing. 

Entrapta listened, too, and didn’t talk to Catra unless she had to. Between bio and calc, she was too busy nerding out to even pay attention to Catra anyway, so it wasn’t like much had changed since the other day. Except Catra noticed how she averted her gaze around her and gave her plenty of space. 

Catra wasn’t quite sure if she was happy or frustrated that they were finally doing what she asked.

Back at the home, things weren’t much better. Upon learning of her detention, Weaver put Catra on just about every house chore duty, which was just peachy. It wasn’t like Catra already had a crummy job she had to juggle with her schoolwork and soccer. No, she had plenty of free time, at least, according to Weaver, who didn’t hold back in her stream of insults about how worthless and lazy and despicable Catra was. As though they were anything new. 

She pushed her hostility onto her foster siblings as well. It was true that she had never been close to them, but somehow, cutting them out had a similar effect on her as cutting out Scorpia and Entrapta. She could tell they were pissed at her for acting the way she was. Even Kyle, who was usually too scared of his own shadow to look Catra in the eye expressed discontent at her new behavior toward them. But that same numbness that had overcome her the moment her iPad broke had stayed with her all week like a parasite, feeding off of her and making her feel like she was being ripped apart slowly. 

Earlier in the week, she had gone to three separate repair shops in the area with what was left of her once treasured belonging, but they all told her the exact same thing: she was better off just buying a new tablet than trying to repair her current one. 

So she sulked and kept to herself everywhere she went. In the back of her mind, she kept note of how long she had refused to speak to anyone unless needed, and wondered how long she could keep it up for. She was quickly approaching a new record for being quiet, one that hadn’t been broken in a little over three years, since…

Nope. She promised herself to not even think about any of that. 

Whatever. She kept her notes on Google Docs, thankfully, and the school had enough computers to borrow throughout the school day. That was one advantage to the hellhole, at least. With midterms days away, she spent most of her free time glued to a screen, whether it be a laptop screen or her phone, her notes pulled up and any of her resources out. She cringed at the thought of having to begin taking notes on paper the next nine weeks, and curled her lip just thinking about how her notes were going to be in two separate places instead of one organized spot. 

Honestly, compared to the rest of her life, midterms were the least of her worries. She learned over the years that she had a pretty decent memory, better than many, and retained information easily. All the hours spent hunched over homework at two in the morning were really beginning to pay off, as the only studying she really needed was a quick glance over every unit to remind herself of the material. Still, her anxiety made her study everything longer than necessary. That, and Weaver, who was a constant reminder that Catra was a complete fuck up. But that was only more reason to study, just so Catra could prove the old hag wrong and laugh in her face when Catra’s hard work would finally pay off and she would still be stuck in a shitty home practically drowning in a mixture of debt and cheap drugstore wine. 

Yeah. Catra was doing great. 

She looked down at her phone as she left her calculus class. The hallways were deserted, everyone having already fled to the parking lot to fight their way through the the after-school traffic. She had stayed after class to ask her teacher a few questions regarding the math honor society, something she qualified for and didn’t know about until she decided to listen in on the morning announcements the other day. Back at Horde, there were only a handful of honor societies, and having to explain that to her middle aged teacher was quite frankly embarrassing. It just further showed how different the two schools of Etheria were. 

Before the final bell rang, she had texted Lonnie to wait for her, as Lonnie had the car keys for their shared car that day. “Community vehicle” as Kyle liked to joke. Catra hadn’t heard a joke from him in a while.

But Lonnie never responded, and here Catra was fifteen minutes later, refreshing her phone, turning it on and off, scrolling through social media, just waiting for a response of any kind. Well, she and Lonnie had never been particularly close. Knowing Lonnie, she probably saw it and didn’t care enough to respond; it wouldn’t be the first time. 

She hurried through the main hallway now, headed toward the doors that opened to the parking lot where Lonnie parked that morning. She passed the main gymnasium, where the drill team or cheer was rehearsing, and the fine arts wing, where there were still some kids chatting in small groups and band kids late for rehearsal, anxiously filling up their gallon jugs and checking their watches. 

And then she was outside, making her way across the parent drop off. And she came to a stop in an empty parking space. 

Where was their car?

Catra pulled up her messaging app, and a little piece of her died. Her text earlier didn’t send.

Okay. Maybe Lonnie just thought she was staying after for something and they just left and could turn around. Catra could only hope so as she began typing furiously.

**Catra:**

_hey where are you? i tried texting earlier but it didn’t go through_

_i just got out_

She waited, heart in her throat, and sighed in relief when the chat bubbles popped up.

**Lonnie:**

_almost home_

_i couldn’t wait for u sry_

Catra spoke too soon. 

**Catra:**

_i said it didnt go through ok?_

_i was just talking to a teacher for five minutes_

**Lonnie:**

_well maybe don’t forget next time then._

_don’t make me text n drive i don’t need weaver up my ass abt a ticket_

**Catra:**

_i didnt forget but go off_

_how am i supposed to get home_

**Lonnie:**

_find a ride or walk_

**Catra:**

_u do realize thats a 2hr walk right_

**Lonnie:**

_i don’t care_

Well. 

Catra texted both Kyle and Rogelio, hoping that maybe she could get one of them to come pick her up. Radio silence. Except for the widely despised _Read 3:52 PM_ from Kyle, who had never bothered to turn off that feature on his phone. 

She shoved the device into her back pocket, along with the intrusive thoughts that the three of them were probably laughing at her right now. They probably planned this just to get back at her for being rude recently. Really, she wouldn’t be surprised if they had been wanting to do it for a while. They had always been their own group, ever since they were all kids. They accepted Adora because she was _Adora_ , and only ever accepted Catra because Adora asked them to. Catra had no place among them, or anyone else in the home. 

As she began her walk home, she did everything she could to fight the tears brimming in her eyes. There was no one in the world who cared about her now, she made sure of that. She could scare people and intimidate them into doing what she wanted, but in the end, they would never appreciate or respect her in the way she wanted. No. In the end, they would all leave. Just like Adora left. 

Because in Catra’s life, that’s just how it was. 

And how it would always be. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me last chapter: i might be a little busy in the coming weeks!
> 
> *two months later*
> 
> Me: heyyyyy guys. Hi. Hello. I, uh, wrote this, hehe
> 
> Okay but i really didn’t expect to be gone for so long?? Like ive been writing and stuff, but i just had some bad writer’s block whenever i came to work on this, plus school’s been,,,interesting. Hopefully, that’s over (for now), because I’m really looking forward to working on the next chapter, so more regular updates should happen! We’re almost to part 2 WOOOOO go crazy go stupid. 
> 
> I also wanted to talk a bit about catra during this part. So, my goal when i started this au was to reflect the show as much as possible, and the beginning of the fic is supposed to line up with the beginning of season 4. Right now, catra’s in that mid-late season 4 stage where she essentially has a breakdown and falls apart, soooo yeah. We can only go up from here, right? Aha,,,yeah,,,
> 
> Thank you to those that have stuck with this fic and that have commented or talked to me on my tumblr about it! I’m an absolute simp for comments and attention, so i really, really love feedback. Getting a little notif in my ao3 inbox or getting asks on my spop blog literally make! My! Day! Even just the little comments about liking it! So please, I BEG u to give me attention, bc attention fuels the ego and drives me to write<333
> 
> I’m on tumblr, emybain, or my spop blog, adorascake!


	6. Part 1: A Parting Gift

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i really hate leigh (my beta) for commenting “stan sugar mama adora” while reading this the other night <3

__ _ “Holy shit, calm down. It’s not going anywhere.” _

__ _ Adora glared up at Catra, who was sitting across from her at the lunch table, but only for a moment before returning to her homework and Catra’s homework before her. It was almost time for the teachers to dismiss them to first period, and Catra was just now telling Adora about the double sided homework they had the night before that she had forgotten about. She blamed her volleyball game and then their soccer practice right after.  _

__ _ “I’m just saying,” Catra muttered, though Adora could detect amusement within her grumpy morning tone.  _

__ _ “If I don’t get this turned in, my grade’s going to drop by like five points, and you know how Ms. Weaver is about grades.” When it came to school, their guardian watched their grades like a hawk. If anyone had a grade that she didn’t find acceptable, there were consequences. Catra, having never shown interest in school in all thirteen years of her life, was often the “example,” as Ms. Weaver liked to put it. Adora always did everything she could to lessen her friend’s punishments, but it was becoming harder and harder to protect her the older they got. It was rare to have situations like this where Adora was the one with a slip up.  _

__ _ “Oh, please, she’ll probably make up some excuse for you.” Catra scowled and leaned forward to rest her head on the table. Her hair, long and curly and wild, spilled over a little onto Adora’s work. She brushed it away gently, shaking her head.  _

__ _ “Yeah, you’re probably right,” she mused, jotting down the answer to the equation without so much as paying attention to the actual problem. There would be time to understand the lesson when it was time to study for the test.  _

__ _ She didn’t necessarily agree with Catra’s statement, but there was no point in arguing before eight in the morning. Besides, Catra didn’t need to know what Adora’s punishments were. It would be unfair to complain about them when Catra suffered far worse, and Adora deserved them most of the time anyway.  _

__ _ The bell rang, and panic flooded Adora’s body immediately. Her rushed handwriting became frantic, copied equations just became answers. Despite having a water bottle right beside her, her mouth was dry. Thoughts began racing through her head. She was going to disappoint her teacher, fail her math class, fail all of her classes, disappoint Ms. Weaver, be kicked out onto the streets, separated from Catra, have to work at McDonald’s for the rest of her life— _

__ _ “Adora. Breathe.” There was a hand on her shoulder. “We still have five minutes, and we’re fast runners. You’re fine.” _

__ _ “Right.” Adora inhaled a shaky breath and continued to copy Catra’s homework, even as the passing students behind her did nothing to soothe her anxiety. “I’m fine. Totally cool.” _

__ _ Two minutes later, the cafeteria empty of students except for those who dragged their feet, she tucked the paper into her backpack and handed Catra her copy. _

__ _ “See? Told you.” Catra nudged her shoulder as they began a slight speed walk down the hallway and to the math department wing. “You need to relax a little. You’re way too stressed out. It’s just middle school.” _

__ _ “And middle school becomes high school and high school becomes college and college becomes life,” Adora reminded, repeating one of Ms. Weaver’s favorite phrases. Catra simply rolled her eyes. _

__ _ “Bet I can beat you to class.” _

__ _ “Oh yeah?” _

__ _ Catra shoved her aside and took off. There was a very clear rule that running was not allowed inside the school, but it was a rule they broke too often to count. Most of the teachers didn’t care, anyway. And they were careful when the principal or assistant principal was around.  _

__ _ With a curt laugh, Adora chased after her.  _

* * *

Midterms passed, and Adora got a needed three day weekend. 

Except, she spent it pulling out her hair and getting a total of five hours of sleep over the course of the small break. She felt absolutely horrible for what happened, and wanted nothing more than to invent time travel just so she could reverse the events of that day.

Bow and Glimmer were giving her kindness she didn’t deserve, too, which only made her feel worse. They tried to justify her actions, telling her that she had a right to be frustrated with Catra and that she shouldn’t beat herself up over something that was an accident. But...Adora  _ needed _ to beat herself up. She could’ve prevented the accident if she hadn’t been a dick, whether or not Catra had pissed her off. 

Adora wanted to fix this. She needed to fix this. It didn’t matter that Catra positively hated Adora’s existence now; Adora deserved that, but she also needed to set things right.

After the incident, they got the project finished and turned in without saying a word to one another. They got a perfect score, as well as a side note that theirs was the best project out of all of Mr. Brian’s classes. He also added that he was still disappointed in their “fight,” as he put it. Adora did okay on her midterms, mostly as expected, but she had pushed back her self loathing on that topic to a day when she would have the mental capacity to handle it. After all, she could only hate herself for one thing at a time. 

The detention was served after midterms, on Wednesday afternoon, of all days. Adora couldn’t think of a worse day for it, but after one of the assistant principals, Ms. Guard, was easy on them for a first time offense and let them wait until after midterms, she couldn’t complain. Not to mention the fact that she was the reason why they had detention in the first place. 

Catra was there before her. Lounging in her chair like it was a throne and totally relaxed, as though this wasn’t her first rodeo. Adora, on the other hand, had never been handed a detention slip in her life, and was terrified out of her mind right now. She didn’t even know that detention was still a thing in high school.

She took a seat a few away from Catra, as the classroom wasn’t very big, and other seats were beginning to fill up. She contemplated getting something out to work on, but no one else was doing that. Was homework allowed in detention? She was too scared to raise her hand and ask.

Unable to help herself, she glanced over at Catra, then had to do a double take. During their shared classes, Catra did everything in her power to be as far away from Adora as possible, so it wasn’t like Adora had been given a chance to actually look at her for longer than a few seconds since the incident. She looked...tired. No, there were bags under her eyes, and her usual light brown, almost golden in the right lighting, skin was pale, but her eyes weren’t tired. Just. Vacant. What Adora thought was a relaxed demeanor could be something else. Like, like she just didn’t care. She found herself suddenly missing the rebellious glint in her eyes, that half smirk that never left her lips.

Adora faced forward and swallowed the lump in her throat. 

* * *

After the worst forty-five minutes of her life, they were allowed to leave. Catra was out the door before anyone else had set their bags over their shoulders. Adora reached behind her head to tighten her ponytail, and was next out the door. 

“Catra!” she called, which she regretted the second it left her lips, as Catra tensed up ahead of her and sped up her stride. Adora huffed and began jogging to catch up. Catra may have been faster than her, but what Adora lacked in speed, she made up for in stubbornness. 

So while Catra kept her eyes focused on the ground, Adora caught up, though had to keep up with the fast pace. “Listen, Catra, I—”

“Save it,” Catra interrupted, not even meeting Adora’s eyes. “I don’t care.”

Even though the empty bitterness in her tone made Adora flinch, she didn’t back down. She deserved Catra’s extra coldness, anyway. “I just...wanted to apologize for your...the other day. I know I can’t undo what I did, and a sorry is the last thing you want to hear, but I owe you that, at least.” When Catra didn’t respond, only shrugged her shoulder to shift the bag over it, Adora continued. “If there’s anything I can do...please let me know.”

Catra stopped then. Adora stumbled over her own feet to backtrack. Finally, Catra faced her, and Adora couldn’t help but examine her face; she looked worse up close. They may not have been friends for three years, and any road of making up had been demolished in the time since Adora left the home, but Adora’s heart still broke to see her like that. 

“You want to do something for me?” Catra asked calmly, but the calmness was unsettling in Adora’s ears. It didn’t match the glaze in her eyes or the anger she must’ve felt for Adora. Adora gulped. “Stay. Away from me. Got that? I don’t need your pity or charity or anyone else’s. So just, please, if you actually give a shit, stay away. And don’t talk to me.” Her voice was soft the entire time, but Adora still caught the wavering in it.

Catra didn’t wait for an answer, and Adora watched her walk away. After a moment, she swiped at her eyes with the back of her hand, and headed out to the parking lot. 

* * *

Catra’s bed had gone through years of rough handling, making it more uncomfortable than it was a decade ago, but that didn’t stop her from chucking first her bag and then herself onto it.

Adora’s apology rang through her head, like a dozen bells going off at the same time at varying speeds. It had been sincere, almost bordering on desperate, even though Adora had never been the desperate type. Catra told herself it was just her own imagination making it up, whatever part of her that was still attached instead of letting go. She had been trying for weeks now to get rid of it, but it persisted, almost as stubborn as a certain blond headed nuisance she knew. Maybe it was because it concerned the blond headed nuisance. 

She ran a tired palm over her face, rubbing her eyes and temples gently with her fingers to soothe the headache pressing against her skull. Her emo hours would have to wait. Serving that detention and then walking home had eaten away precious time to work on homework and study. She had a major calc test in the morning, despite midterms only just being a week ago, and she was not about to let meaningless feelings and emotions get in the way of her future. 

She was halfway through reviewing limits and continuity when the door to her room flung open. Expecting Lonnie, she kept her head down. They hadn’t talked since their text conversation the week before, and Catra would jump off the sketchy roof of the home before she initiated any communication with her roommate. Admitting defeat meant losing, and Catra was tired of losing, of being weak. 

“I thought you were working tonight.” Catra froze, hand hovering over the graph button on her calculator. 

“No,” she said after forcing herself to pull it together. If her guardian so much as knew her presence caused Catra to lose focus, she would simply hang it over her. “I, uh, had to stay at the school for about an hour.”

“Why.” The way it was phrased, not even a question, but a demand, sent chills up Catra’s arms.

She swallowed thickly, knowing telling the truth now was better than lying and getting her ass essentially beaten when Weaver learned the truth eventually. “Detention.”

There was silence, and Catra closed her eyes, waiting for the blow. She could handle being yelled at, having gotten used to it over the years. But silence? Silence was probably the worst form of punishment Catra could receive. 

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Ms. Weaver replied coolly. “I noticed earlier, when I was looking at everyone’s grades, that yours are slacking.”

Catra looked up from her homework finally and frowned. “I have all A’s.”

“Don’t lie to me.” She shrunk back at the sudden snap in Ms. Weaver’s tone. Somehow, even after all these years, she could still make Catra flinch with the slightest change in voice. “You have a B in Biology.”

“Well, that’s because it’s a difficult class.” Catra shrugged, putting her guardian’s words in the action as though it would help deflate their effect on her. Plus, it hid the fact that she was shaking slightly. “I’m doing the best I can.”

“Your best isn’t enough.” Ms. Weaver narrowed her eyes, and once again, Catra backed down from her gaze. “If you wanted to go to that school so bad, you should have been prepared for their advanced classes.”

She bit back an insult about the education at Bright Moon being eons better than any education the woman might have received a hundred years ago. “I’ll get the grade back up.”

Ms. Weaver hummed, the shortness of the noise indicating how she didn’t believe Catra. “Are you planning on applying to college?”

“Uh, I already did.”

Another displeased noise. “What schools?” Catra listed them off cautiously, leaving Krytis for last. “And do you think those are good choices?”

Though Catra probably didn’t want to hear more, knowing the question was only the first layer of whatever insult Ms. Weaver was leading up to, she asked, “What do you mean?’

“Do you think they are suitable for you?” 

Catra bit the inside of her cheek. “If this is about getting into college, you don’t have to worry about me. I’ll be fine.” Not that she was actually expecting her guardian to worry about her.

“Let’s just hope things work out for you,” she said airily. “I don’t allow my wards to stay here after high school unless they’re not yet eighteen, as I’m sure you’re aware.”

Catra had to hold back a snort. Normally, she would reply with something snarky, but she was too bogged down with homework to risk being put on some dumb house chore duty for the rest of the night. “Are we done here? I’m kinda busy. You know, trying to get into college and all.”

Ms. Weaver didn’t seem to hear her. Or rather, she didn’t care. Yeah, the latter was more likely. “I haven’t seen that little friend of yours around recently. Doesn’t she give you rides home?”

At the mention of Scorpia, Catra’s fingertips went numb. “She isn’t my friend.”

“Oh? Well, not like that surprises me. You never were good at making friends. Or keeping them, for that matter.”

“I need to work, so if you could please leave, you would be doing the both of us a huge favor.” Catra gestured in the direction of the door. She refused to look up, training her eyes on her calculus notes. She was close to snapping, and really, really didn’t want to deal with the backlash. 

“Didn’t this exact same thing happen with Adora?” Ms. Weaver paused. “You never did tell me what happened between the two of you, now that I think of it. Probably for the best. I always knew Adora was destined for great things, and you just held her back.”

Catra tasted blood in her mouth; she bit down on her cheek too hard. “Get. Out.” 

“Always selfish. Thinking about yourself instead of others.”

“You don’t get to call me selfish when you’re no better,” she spit out, though it sounded more like a choked noise. 

Ms. Weaver gave her a long look, lips pursed, before turning to finally leave. “The baseboards are disgusting all over the house. I expect them to be spotless before you go to sleep tonight.” 

The second the door closed behind her, Catra let the tears fall. She wasn’t even sure where they came from, and had no idea how she suddenly had a piercing headache. If she had the energy, she’d get up to go to the bathroom and vomit.

The woman lived to torture Catra. She was sure of it. There wasn’t a single day in her shitty life that Catra could remember her guardian ever being nice to her. It was like she knew exactly when Catra was having a particularly bad day, and always decided to make it as worse as she possibly could. 

No matter how hard Catra tried, she could never keep Weaver from finding out just the right things to say to her to make her feel worse than before. It didn’t matter how closed off she made herself, how tight-lipped she kept her mouth, Weaver always knew everything about her, and she held little hope that it would ever change. 

It was a low move to bring up Adora. While she was no doubt clueless about what happened just a week before, it wouldn’t surprise Catra if she somehow knew there was something going on between the two of them. Ever since they were little, she had tried in vain to keep them apart. After all, Catra was a bad influence on neat, organized, perfect Adora. When Adora left the home to go live with her new family, Weaver just about had a field day knowing that she left while in the middle of a fight with Catra. And from there, it was like everyday was her birthday, as their once unbreakable bond became fragile and eventually ceased to exist. 

The comments about her grades were, ironically, the thing that bothered her the least. For years, she had been compared to Adora and to everyone else in the home, held at a higher expectation yet always belittled for never being enough. It didn’t matter that she had pretty damn good grades considering everything going on in her life, or that she studied and worked harder than Lonnie or Kyle or Rogelio. As long as her grades weren’t to her guardian’s liking, then Catra may as well not have a brain. But she was used to it all by now. It was something she could handle.

Somehow, the personal comments hurt the worst. She hadn’t spoken to anyone in a week, having completely cut off any remaining relationships she had for her own good, yet Weaver blaming her for her problems with former friends stung. She didn’t need them, any of them. Every time the world sent a person in her direction, they ruined her life in some way, so it was best to cut the rest out before they hurt her too. Even Scorpia, who was possibly the nicest and purest human being on the planet, despite being a little overbearing, was bound to cause Catra pain at some point. Entrapta too, with all of her dumb science and nerd things. People hurt her, betrayed her, and her life already sucked enough as it was. After Adora, she should’ve been done with friendships for good. 

If she had, like a smart person would’ve, there was a good chance she wouldn’t be in this mess right now, barely able to comprehend a simple calculus question as tears streamed down her cheeks, fighting for just one gulp of air. Anything to get her through it. 

Still, her fingers itched for the phone somewhere at her side, ached to text just one person. She wasn’t even sure who. Scorpia, Entrapta, Lonnie, Kyle, Rogelio...all people she had pushed away. Scorpia always gave Catra a big hug when she was in a particularly bad mood. Entrapta would offer statistics or bombard her with the knowledge stored in her head about bad tempers. Lonnie, Kyle, and Rogelio, having dealt with her tempers for years, would pay them no mind. Sometimes, Kyle would pat her on the back. Just thinking about the sympathetic smile he would give her made her cry harder. 

These things shouldn’t have been bothering her. She was winning. This was what she had wanted all along. It just didn’t make sense why she felt like she had lost everything. Winning wasn’t supposed to cause her to cry out of nowhere. She was supposed to be happy, so why, ever since a week ago, wasn’t she? Scratch that. This went deeper than just a week before. All this time, over the course of three years, she had told herself she was winning. But...this couldn’t be what winning was like. Not when Adora and all of her stupid friends had been winning since birth and were living their best lives. Not when she was sitting on a mattress over a decade old in the only place close enough for her to call home, wanting to scream or throw something or both but feeling as though she was trapped. 

None of it mattered, anyway. She made her choice, and now she was going to have to live with it. If she wanted to get out of this hell of a town and succeed at anything in life, then she would have to suck it up. This was for the best. Over and over again, she repeated that mantra in her head, hoping it would calm her down some. Instead, it filled her with a great emptiness, one that could never be filled again once carved out. 

* * *

This was the only thing Adora could think of doing.

At the last second, she decided to add the sticky note on top of the box before putting it in the reusable grocery bag Mara had given her. With a sigh that did absolutely nothing to calm her nerves, Adora shut Catra’s gym locker and headed out of the locker room, out the athletic wing, and into the brisk October morning air. The sun wasn’t even up yet; she was lucky that the school doors were even unlocked at this hour, or else her plan would’ve failed.

She climbed into Mara’s car and shut the door behind her. In the far back of the car sat their luggage, just three small suitcases and three carry ons for the plane, and her grandmother, who was fast asleep. It was Friday, and they were headed off to tour the University of Eternia across the country. It was a quick trip; they were flying that morning and would be flying back Sunday afternoon. Seeing as this was the best time for a tour before the holiday season truly kicked in and they were stuck in Etheria, Adora had no choice but to skip school. It wasn’t ideal, she would be doing a lot of makeup work in their hotel room, but it was the best she could do.

“You ready?” Mara asked, bringing Adora’s attention back to the present. 

“Yeah.” Adora tried for a tired smile.

They left the school parking lot and made their way through the town in silence. This time of day was always weird to Adora, almost like it didn’t exist. There were maybe three cars on the road, nothing was open, and everything was quiet. But Adora wasn’t thinking about that, even though her eyes were trained on her window. 

“That was a really nice thing for you to do, Adora.” She glanced over at Mara as they turned onto the road that would lead them to the highway. Mara had a whisper of a smile on her lips, though she could tell it was there more for reassurance than actual happiness. 

She picked at her fingernails. “It was the right thing to do,” she said softly. “I’ve been horrible to her. It was the least I could do.”

”I’m still proud of you.” Mara reached over and patted Adora’s knee lightly. “What you’re going through is never easy.” When Adora responded with nothing more than a soft hum, she continued. “Do you want a coffee or a bagel or something? We have time.”

Adora declined, and the car fell silent once more. 

Even though traveling right now wasn’t great when she thought of all the schoolwork she would have to catch up on, it was perfect timing for her attempt at righting things with Catra. This way, she wouldn’t have to face any immediate repercussions if Catra didn’t accept it. She would be on a plane flying to the west coast by then. 

With a sudden pang in her belly and a jolt in her leg, she remembered that Catra’s birthday was on Sunday. Should she have added in a happy birthday note? No, probably not. Catra had never been fond of her birthday anyway, and any wishes from Adora would probably only end badly. 

An old memory resurfaced as Adora let her eyes fall shut, leaning against the car window. Almost every year on her own birthday, Catra would lightly joke about Adora being nearly a year older than her, and would ask her if she remembered that time when she failed kindergarten and was held back. 

_ “I didn’t fail,”  _ she would always tell her, sometimes under the covers of her bed after the clock struck midnight.  _ “My teacher just didn’t think I was ready for first grade.” _

_ “Same thing.”  _ And Catra would always roll her eyes in response and poke Adora’s forehead with her finger, something she had been doing since they were children. Adora still had no idea why. 

And then she would tease Catra about being happy for them to be in the same grade, and how embarrassing it was for her because she liked Adora. Usually, that conversation ended in some kind of play fight.

Adora’s lips curled up in a slight smile, though it hurt. 

It didn’t seem fathomable that they had been that close once upon a time, and now they could hardly be in the same room together. It had been easier dealing with the pain of losing Catra’s friendship back when she wasn’t seeing her every day. Back then, she was able to just push her hurt to the farthest corner of her brain and go on with her life. Yes, she had been overcome with sadness over losing her best friend, the one person she trusted most in the world, but Catra was the one who made that decision for the both of them. Adora wished for three long years that things could be different and they could be friends again, but it never happened. So she sucked it up and did her best to go about her new life without her best friend by her side. But now, ever since Catra showed up at Bright Moon, it was nearly impossible to suppress all of her pent up emotions over their relationship. She would push them back to the corner of her mind where they had sat silently for three years, only for them to come raging back to the forefront, demanding Adora’s attention at all times of the day. 

It wasn’t until a few weeks ago, when Adora broke her iPad, that Adora felt a true sense of loss. Almost like...like there was no going back from that. Any small hope she may have been harboring since freshman year about them making up was squashed. In the time since, Catra’s new personality haunted her. It just...didn’t seem like her at all. There was no bite, no sharpness, that made Catra who she was. Even when they had been friends, she had that rebellious fire within her. Now, not even a spark flickered in those eyes whenever Adora glanced at them in their shared classes. They were simply blank. Empty. Not caring. And it broke Adora right down to her core. 

She had tried, over the years, to hate Catra. Really, she did. Freshmen year, sophomore year, junior year, senior year. But she just couldn’t do it. Whenever they were apart, it was easier to tell herself she could move on with life and not be bothered by her past with Catra, but then they would collide and the walls Adora spent forever putting up would crumble to the ground, like a toddler kicking down a lego tower in anger. She was always, always reminded of the home and of all the years they spent at one another’s hip. How in first grade, they got the “Best Friends Forever” award at the end of the year party. How in fifth grade they sat in the back of the room, quietly giggling at the talk the teacher was giving to all the girls in the grade about hygiene and periods and boys. How in eighth grade, they chose to not have dates to the eighth grade formal and to instead just go with one another. How when Adora told Catra about Mara and Razz, Catra was mad at her for a total of one hour before putting a smile on her face and telling Adora how lucky she was, though even then, Adora could see the pain in her eyes. 

Almost absentmindedly, she hooked her fingers around the chain at her throat, running the pad of her thumb over the blue stone that sat within the ring. She had never met her parents, but Mara had brought pictures with her the first time they met. They were nice looking, her mother beautiful and her father handsome, and the photos helped fifteen year old Adora feel some belonging amidst the confusion, but Adora had never really felt a true connection to them like a daughter probably should. When Mara had told her they were both dead, she hadn’t even shed a tear. Maybe it was the pre-existing anger at the idea that they hadn’t cared about her and left her to grow up an orphan, but Adora wasn’t so certain. Mara had cleared it up immediately that her mother wanted to keep her, but couldn’t, and her father had died before she even learned she was pregnant; her anger had dissipated at that, settled into an almost too-calm buzzing. They just...weren’t her family to her. They were complete strangers; Adora knew absolutely nothing about them other than the stories Mara told her. So why should she care about them? Mara and Razz were her family, but also, deep down, so was Catra. 

For so long, Catra had been the only family she knew. At first, she considered them sisters, back when they were just kids, but over the years, that belief changed. To see Catra as her sister just didn’t seem right, so she instead relied on best friend. Because best friends could be family, but not consider one another sisters, right? 

Whatever it was, Adora still felt a connection to her, and had a gut feeling that it would never leave her no matter how hard she tried to abandon it. She was never going to be able to find hate in her heart for Catra, no matter how mean or cold Catra became, because...because…

She was Catra. 

There wasn’t a logical explanation for it other than that. To say she hated Catra would be like saying the sky was green; it just didn’t make sense. 

She was, simply, Catra. And Adora could never hate Catra. 

* * *

Fingers numb, Catra read the note. Over and over again. 

_ I’m truly sorry—for everything. I owe you this, at least.  _

_ —Adora _

She looked across the locker room where Adora’s locker was, expecting to find a blonde ponytail, but there was nothing. Her locker was shut tight, and there was no backpack on the bench to mark her presence. That was unusual; Adora was always there before Catra, probably before anyone else. 

Swallowing thickly, Catra turned to one of her teammates, whose name she could never remember and didn’t really care to. “Where’s Adora?”

The look Catra got may as well have indicated she had grown a second head. “Uh, I think she’s gone on a college tour for the weekend.”

Oh. Catra nodded and turned away to start changing into her athletic gear, but her eyes never left her locker, where a brand new iPad and Apple Pencil sat in a reusable grocery bag. 

* * *

“So what did you think of Eternia?” 

Adora stepped out of the way of a freshman speed walking through the hall, no doubt late for class. “It was alright.”

“Just alright?” Bow practically squeaked, craning his head past Glimmer to gawk at Adora. “You fly across the country for the only school you’ve talked about since we met you and it’s just  _ alright _ ?”

Adora let out a laugh. “What do you want me to say?”

“Oh, I dunno, maybe that it was the best experience of your life and you can’t wait to go there?” He raised an eyebrow at her.

Adora purposefully slowed down her pace so that she could avoid his gaze. “I liked it. There was nothing wrong with it.”

“There’s a but, isn’t there?” Glimmer wasn’t even looking up, eyes glued to her phone and her chat with Frosta. It must’ve been some band emergency, as Glimmer hated being on her phone in the crowded hallways of Bright Moon. 

“What? No.” Adora shrugged awkwardly. “I don’t know. I’ve already seen a few schools, and they’re all more or less the same. You guys know how it is.” That got her two shaking heads and mutters of disagreement. “Oh, right, band,” she mumbled, more of an afterthought. Well, they would know how it was once their band season ended and they got some free time. 

“So you’re saying you’re having second thoughts?” Bow turned to face them, walking backwards. A dangerous feat during passing period. But with his height and broad shoulders, people cleared out a path for him. His height was probably one of the only things Adora envied about him. To have the power to make people get out of your way? Sick. 

“What?” Glimmer finally tore her eyes from her phone to frown at Adora. “You’re not going to Eternia?”

Adora rolled her eyes. “I never said that, Bow. I’m still planning on going there.”

They turned down one of the many side hallways of the school and headed to the back where Adora’s third period was. There was an unsettling twist in her gut that had slowly grown throughout the day as this class approached. She had seen Catra that morning, of course, during practice, but she put every fiber of her being into focusing on  _ not _ looking at her.  _ Especially _ when she got a creeping feeling along her spine while leading warmups, as though she was being watched by a set of eyes that normally never bothered to pay her any mind. 

Ever since Friday morning, she had been a bit on edge. She worried whether or not Catra would like the gift, or even accept it. Part of her wanted to run in the opposite direction of her government and economics class. Adora was a lot of things, yes, but she wasn’t a quitter. She refused to give up on anything, and right now, that included marching into her class and acting like nothing was wrong at all. Even if the idea made her stomach churn. 

She said her goodbyes to Bow and Glimmer, trying not to worry too much about the encouraging glints in their eyes. They were her best friends, of course they could tell when her anxiety was on the verge of skyrocketing. Still, sometimes a look or a gesture meant to be supportive and kind did little to calm her nerves. 

People were still trickling into the classroom when Adora walked in. There were only a few people present, at their seats and glued to their phones. Daring to look forward at her seat and the one right beside it, she let out a slow sigh of relief. Catra wasn’t here yet. She still had a little time to dry her palms and slow her heartbeat. 

What was the worst that could happen? Since their short exchange a few weeks back after detention, they hadn’t said a word to one another. Catra hadn’t even looked at her. That was, until today, unless her suspicions that Catra had been watching her were just her mind making things up. 

Okay. Adora needed a distraction before the bell rang. And Mermista’s chair was still empty. If she was feeling less frazzled, she would get up and talk to another one of her classmates. Most of them were nice, and she had a few classes with them over the years. Instead, she took out her pre-calc homework, which really, wasn’t any better than socializing. Maybe if she made it look like she was busy, Catra would ignore her as usual when she came in, that was if she even had anything to say to Adora. 

She wasn’t quite sure how staring blankly at a unit circle was going to help her.

Scorpia had tried to fill her in on the stuff she didn’t understand, as she had to fill out Friday’s notes by herself on the plane, but it did little to help Adora understand this unit. Especially the unit circle, which was...a nightmare. But she did her best to follow along, and thanked Scorpia for explaining it, even if it left her more confused than before. For the last couple of weeks, Scorpia had been hanging around her friend group more and more. According to Perfuma, they were in a couple of clubs together, so her presence wouldn’t have been that strange if it weren’t for the fact that she normally lingered around Catra or Entrapta. Adora didn’t ask, though she had a sneaking suspicion that Scorpia and Catra weren’t talking. She wasn’t sure if Catra was talking to anyone, anymore. She certainly made sure to make herself appear as hostile as possible in soccer and in this class; it wouldn’t surprise Adora if she was like that for the rest of the school day.

Black flashed in her peripheral vision, settling into the empty seat beside her. Adora bent her head lower over her homework, sliding her left arm out just so she could rest her hand beneath her hairline, blocking out her seat companion. If she couldn’t see Catra, all was fine. Right? 

It didn’t matter much, anyway. Turned out, she worried over nothing, because there was no confrontation or anything from Catra. Class went on as normal, and toward the end, Adora finally built up the courage to peek out of the corner of her eye. There was an open notebook out on Catra’s desk, and she was leaned over it on her phone. Completely casual. Okay, cool. She was cool and not bothered. Well, maybe. The second the bell rang, Adora was out of her chair and the first out the door. 

She didn’t want to test that conclusion.

* * *

Normally, Adora wouldn’t be caught dead dressed before noon on a Saturday, but this was Glimmer she was talking about. And letting Glimmer decide when and where they would study together maybe wasn’t the best idea. She was just trying to be nice, seeing as this was the only free weekend she had before she and Bow and the rest of the marching band went off for some big competition. With Bow being at some percussion thing, Adora felt like Glimmer could benefit from a little “girl time,” as she would call it. Apparently that meant ditching the comfort of her bed and sweats and hauling herself to their favorite coffee shop in town.

“Smile!” Adora looked up from her macroeconomics notes to see a phone pointed at her. She gave her best definitely-not-tired smile, which seemed to satisfy Glimmer enough.

“Is that for your mom or for Instagram?” she questioned dryly. Angella was...very overprotective. She was great, and treated Adora like she was her own daughter, but she was also strict. As in “send me photos of the people you’re with” strict. Adora couldn’t count on one hand the amount of times she’d sent Glimmer photos of herself, posing in a way that made it seem like Glimmer had taken the photo, no questions asked. 

“Yes,” Glimmer replied simply, putting the device down after a minute. Not two seconds later, Adora’s phone lit up with a notification that she had been tagged in Glimmer’s story on Instagram. 

They worked in mostly silence, popping a question or a comment here and there. The longer they sat there, the more comfortable Adora got, and she was beginning to think she really needed this. Just some coffee, her best friend, jazz music in the background, and all around cozy vibes, especially with the autumn scenery out the window to her right. 

And then Glimmer had to ruin it.

“I’ve been meaning to ask how Catra took your gift,” she mentioned offhandedly, sipping her coffee. “Was she pissed or did she take it well?”

“I...I don’t know.” Adora shrunk a little in her seat. “She hasn’t said or done anything to me since I came back.”

“That can’t be good.” Glimmer gave a small, knowing chuckle. “Silence is worse than an answer, right? Adora hummed in agreement, but gave no further reply, so Glimmer pressed on. “Something’s bothering you. I can tell.”

That brought a small smile to Adora’s face. “Oh yeah?”

“You’re my best friend. I can tell when you’re upset.” Glimmer shrugged. “You get all quiet and hardly focus. I mean, you’ve taken maybe two sips of your coffee since we got here.”

Okay, so maybe she had a point. Adora sighed. “It’s just...I don’t know. I’ve been thinking a lot lately—”

“—Which is never good.”

“Hey!” She laughed and reached over to lightly shove Glimmer’s shoulder. “As I was saying, I’ve been thinking about Catra. I mean, you know how close we used to be, and I just...I’m not sure. I’ve just been thinking about that a lot this year, since school started.” She looked down at her lap. “Sometimes I forget that we used to be like...like…”

“I know what you mean,” Glimmer cut in again, though softer and without the teasing tone from before. “Bow and I have always been that way.” She set her phone down on the table. “You’ve told us before about your relationship with her, but you don’t really go into detail. What was she like, anyway, when you guys were younger?”

_ A lot of things. Everything. _ “Nicer,” Adora said aloud, a hint of humor in her voice. “Happier,” an afterthought. “You know, I always thought that I could fix things between us. I thought like that for a long time.” She shrugged. “I guess I was just refusing to accept that things would never be the same. That  _ we _ would never be the same.”

For a moment, there was nothing but the music in the background and chattering of other patrons to supplement the silence between them. Adora was about to return to her work, figuring the conversation had died, when Glimmer spoke again.

“You still care about her, don’t you?”

Admitting it in her mind was one thing. Admitting it vocally, announcing it to the world and turning a thought into a solidified fact, was another. “Yeah,” she breathed, unable to meet Glimmer’s gaze. “I don’t think I’ll ever stop caring about her.”

She could feel Glimmer’s eyes on her, even as she did return to her work, but didn’t acknowledge it. 

Bow and Glimmer were her best friends. Nothing would ever change that. They had latched onto her from the very first day of high school, had been patient and understanding while she tried to adjust to her new life. Together, they embodied a lot of things that she had been deprived of growing up, things she hadn’t known she had been deprived of until they came along. But still, she wasn’t sure if they could ever be held at the same level as she once held Catra. There were things that she had never told them that she had told Catra, things that they wouldn’t understand but Catra would, things that confused them but made perfect sense to Catra. They hadn’t grown up in that home with Adora. Catra had. 

And to lose her for good, realizing that they weren’t the same scared kids just trying to survive in a big world, was like losing a part of herself. 

* * *

As the days dragged on, Adora still received no reaction from Catra. To put her more on edge, she never once saw her former friend even use the iPad. In third period, she only took notes on paper, and used her phone when she got bored. Adora had absolutely no clue how she felt about it. If anything, she would have expected the tablet to be returned to her, with the possibility of it being shattered to pieces just out of Catra’s typical spite. But. Nothing. 

Until she walked into Mr. Brian’s class that day, after a grueling workout in first period that involved the football stadium bleachers and an even more grueling hour and a half in math. 

As usual, she minded her own business, chatting a few minutes with Mermista and some other classmates near her desk and checking her phone for any texts or notifications. Eventually, Adora drifted from the conversation and pulled out her homework that she normally worked on during this class while also taking notes when necessary. She was in the middle of trying to figure out what the graphing points meant on her paper when the bell rang, and seconds later, a dripping iced coffee was plopped onto the corner of her desk.

She looked up in surprise, nearly falling out of her seat when she saw Catra retreat to her own chair, another iced coffee clutched between her fingers. 

Catra scowled at her, shoulders hunching in. “They gave me an extra drink by accident, and unlike you, I don’t like things to go to waste, so whatever. You’re the only other person I know that would drink cold coffee in the winter, so don’t make a big deal about it, or anything.”

Adora blinked, mouth hanging open. Drool was probably dripping down her chin, but she was too shocked to even think about that. What...what? Weeks of silence... _ years _ of hostility...and that was the first...actually nice...thing Catra said to her? 

Where did Catra even get the coffee? Adora knew she had second period with Entrapta, and judging by the ice still in the plastic cup, she had got it recently. 

It was just...so bizarre and unexpected and not like Catra. The Catra that Adora had gotten used to since they stopped being friends would’ve just given it to the first person she saw or thrown it out...not carry it all the way through an already freezing cold school, up the stairs, and down one of the deepest hallways in the building just to give it to Adora. It didn’t make any sense. 

Then again, Adora didn’t really know Catra like she used to.

“Thank you,” she finally said, finding her voice. What was she supposed to do now? Her eyes hovered on Catra for a moment. “I, um, your shoes are cool.”

Catra seemed as off guard as Adora at the comment, frowning up from her phone screen. She shrank more into her seat. “...Thanks.”

Once class officially started, economics was the last thing on Adora’s mind. She immediately reached for her phone, already formulating the message she’d send to Glimmer and Bow in their group chat about her awkward exchange with Catra, the first one since their fight, but stopped herself and set the phone back down on her desk. She would tell them later. Right now, she kind of wanted to keep that to herself. Why, she wasn’t quite sure. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh god i finished this ??? Hold on lemme check,,,like right before November began, so i really dont remember writing this ahfhja. 
> 
> I am currently doing nanowrimo (trying to, anyway,,,its not going so well lmao) and working on a personal project ive been doing research for and all that fun stuff for a few months now. It’s gay, its friends to enemies to lovers, its childhood friends, its secret identities, and i am LIVING for it. BUt as we all know, ideas seem much better in our heads than actually writing them <3\. Anyway, because of that, idk if I’ll get to this all that much during November? Never say never though, and I plan on working on the next part if I hit rough patches in my other project. 
> 
> SPEAKING of the next part, if i remember correctly, this is the last portion of part 1! I planned this out into parts based on the two semesters in their school year, and separated based on the first half of each semester and last half, which is after midterms (which they just had). I went a little over the midterm line, but I wanted to add this chapter to part 1 because of this (seemingly) new leaf catra has turned over, which will be explained in the next chapter! 
> 
> Last week was,,,something wasn’t it? Aha, Americans, how are we feeling? Yeah i have nothing to say about,,,all of that. 
> 
> I’m super active on my tumblr, adorascake, and my main blog, emybain! I love talking to people, whether its through posts, asks, or dms! Really, I’m pretty sure my mutuals and my followers are annoyed with me 95% of the time,,,but I’m super friendly hehe! Come say hi, or tell me how you felt about this chapter, or whatever you want (i love attention and comments just saying)
> 
> I hope y’all enjoyed this! Stay safe, and remember to hydrate! Thanks for reading and sticking with this story and these gay messes!


	7. Part 2: Ma’am, This is a McDonald’s

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just as an fyi, this back tracks a little bit before the coffee incident of the last chapter (after the flashback), so don’t get confused:)

_ Catra valued her beauty sleep, always had. Which was why when she was so rudely woken up in the middle of the night, she could only glare up at the person who woke her.  _

__ _ “Wake up, sleepyhead!” Adora whispered in her ear for the millionth time, shaking her shoulders lightly.  _

_ Catra groaned and swatted her away. It was a school night, and as much as she enjoyed breaking the rules, like staying up late, she had a test in the morning that she needed to be focused for. “Fuck off,” she grumbled, turning over.  _

_ Adora only scoffed above her, not budging. “C’mon, Catra. It’s past midnight, and I have a present for you.”  _

_ Right, it was her birthday. The big one-three. Even though Catra’s heart swelled at the words, moved that Adora had gotten her something, she was tired and stubborn. She would soon cave to her best friend’s persistence, but not without a little bit of a fight beforehand. Catra held the title of stubborn brat proudly, after all. To prove it, she buried her head under her pillow. “And this can’t wait until morning?” _

_ “It is morning,” Adora whispered matter of fact, nudging her hand against Catra’s shoulder again. Catra let out a snort; leave it to Adora to state the obvious. After a moment of no budging, Adora shook Catra again. Her mattress squeaked beneath them.  _

_ “Please, Catra? I had this whole thing planned out.” And there was that soft, pleading tone that melted Catra’s insides and any hint of rebellion.  _

_ With a dramatic, fake resigned sigh, Catra came out from her hiding place and sat up, squinting at Adora in the darkness. “Fine. But this better be good, dummy, or I’m going back to bed.” _

_ Adora’s grin was enough to drag her out of bed and out the window of their room, being as quiet as possible so as not to wake Lonnie or the rest of the house. Adora went first, clambering up onto the lower portion of the roof right outside their window, then she helped Catra out.  _

_ They started coming out here a few years ago, and it quickly became their little secret, something that was completely theirs. During the summers, they liked to hang out here long after everyone else went to bed, talking for hours on end without having to worry too much about getting caught. The bathroom was right underneath them, and beside it, Kyle and Rogelio’s room, so it wasn’t like they would get in any trouble if they were too loud. Plus, Weaver’s room was downstairs and on the front side of the house. They were quiet still, of course, because it didn’t hurt to be cautious, but at least they didn’t have to whisper underneath their covers.  _

_ There was already a blanket and a wrapped gift waiting for them. Adora must have come out here already before waking Catra up. Somehow, Catra found the sentiment endearing. Only Adora would be that thoughtful, after all.  _

_ They settled onto the blanket, sitting cross legged, and Adora handed Catra the poorly wrapped present.  _

_ “Happy Birthday,” she said, voice filled with pure giddiness. She was probably the only person Catra knew that got this excited about birthdays, probably because she didn’t know her own.  _

_ Catra rolled her eyes and accepted the package. “You didn’t have to get me anything, idiot.” _

_ “Oh, just open it.” Adora swatted her arm lightly, scooting closer. Catra’s breath hitched in her throat.  _

_ “Ugh, fine.” She still grinned at her, despite her words of protest, and opened the gift. Even if the wrapping was horrible, she was careful not to rip any of the paper.  _

_ She could feel Adora’s eyes on her as she took in the gift, a Panic! At the Disco t-shirt that Catra had been eyeing every time they went to the Hot Topic at the mall, but had never bought because it wasn’t like she had an allowance. How Adora managed to get her hands on it, and without Catra noticing, was beyond her. If she were modest, she would protest that Adora shouldn’t have spent that kind of money on her. There was a nagging part of her that told her she didn’t deserve this, and definitely didn’t deserve a person like Adora, but she pushed it down. Instead, she chose to gape at Adora, eyes wide.  _

_ “Holy shit,” she breathed. “Adora...I…” _

_ “You’re welcome,” Adora stated proudly, not shy in the slightest.  _

_ Catra laughed and pulled her into a hug, unable to keep a grin from spreading across her face. “You’re such an idiot.” Still, she hummed as Adora embraced her tightly. “You seriously didn’t have to get me anything. Thank you.” _

_ “You’re my best friend,” Adora replied simply, as though she were stating that grass was green. “You deserve the best.” _

_ Catra refused to tear up, knowing she would never live it down.  _

_ They laid back after that, talking for a while about whatever topic that came to mind. Adora tried convincing Catra that there were stars in the sky, despite them living in a heavily populated area, and Catra made fun of her for calling a satellite a planet. But she still let Adora rattle on about the sky and space, which was her current big interest. She tended to find a new interest every couple of months, learning everything she possibly could about it and then ranting to Catra about what she discovered. Catra supposed anyone else would’ve found it annoying or boring, but she couldn’t get enough of it. Watching Adora get excited about something like a kid set loose with a thousand tickets in a Chuck E. Cheese was priceless.  _

_ The entire time they were up there, Catra watched Adora whenever she spoke (which was usually for a while). Her eyes traced a path over Adora’s face, from the hard set of her brows to the baby cheeks she had yet to outgrow. Whenever her eyes lit up, Catra’s heart skipped in her chest. Adora was...really, really pretty. This was nothing new; Adora had always been the pretty one between the two of them, but suddenly, it was like Catra finally understood why a handful of boys, mostly jocks, in their grade had come up to her asking for advice on how to ask out Adora. She scared them all away of course, flaring up at just the thought of having to share her best friend with anyone, especially a smelly, nose-picking boy who was going through puberty, and had never quite comprehended why they wanted to date Adora in the first place. Now, she couldn’t really blame them.  _

_ Adora was pretty, and would no doubt be beautiful in a matter of years as she matured. But beyond that, she was kind, and loyal, and smart (even though Catra constantly called her an idiot), and brave, and so much more. Out of all the people in the world, this perfect, try hard, straight-A student had decided to be best friends with Catra. She was thoughtful and funny and an absolute dork, beyond that cocky jock a lot of their peers knew, and only Catra knew that about her.  _

_ Looking at Adora in the moonlight of her thirteenth birthday, Catra realized just how screwed she was. She wasn’t really sure what this new feeling in her chest was, a sort of warm, fuzziness that overcame her whenever Adora’s eyes met hers. And she definitely wasn’t sure why she suddenly wondered about the softness of Adora’s lips, what they might taste like.  _

_ Deep down, she knew nothing would ever come of whatever this was. Catra could never risk the only real friendship she ever had. And besides, why would Adora ever look at her the same way? Being friends with Adora happened on accident, and as it was, Catra felt like she was fighting to keep Adora to herself these days. Nice people always made fast friends, and Adora had numerous.  _

_ It was only a matter of time before she would be stolen away from Catra. Which was why Catra decided in that moment to shove down any thoughts of Adora’s lips or her bright eyes or how breathtaking she was beneath the moon.  _

_ Whatever this was, Catra had intentions of killing it as soon as possible, before she ended up getting hurt.  _

* * *

Catra was sure she held the record for shittiest birthdays. 

They had all been bad, ever since she arrived at the home as a child, but up until she turned fifteen, they had at least been bearable. Her eighteenth, she was sure, took the cake for the worst birthday. 

Not that she cared all that much. After all, why would she want to celebrate another year of living in the definition of hell? Congrats, you haven’t died yet! Have some cake. In the home, birthdays were never celebrated, at least that was, Weaver never let them hold celebrations, claiming they were a waste of time and no one should ever receive such special treatment. They celebrated amongst themselves, but the only birthday Catra had ever smiled for was Adora’s. Since she was left on Weaver’s doorstep as an infant, no birth certificate or anything, they had chosen a birthday for her, in the summer when ice cream tasted best and they were allowed out past dark without a chaperone (only in their older years, though). Catra knew now that her birthday was in fact not in the summer, but in January, as she had come across the social media posts in the past of the parties her family held for her. 

But Catra...wasn’t one to celebrate the event. To make herself forget it was even her birthday, she made sure she had a long shift that day at work, and scheduled plenty of homework to do once she got home. That was what she did most days now, anyway. 

Despite her best efforts, it was hard to just forget the day she was born. It was like the universe refused to let her. It was something that flashed in obnoxious neon lights behind her eyes before she was even awake, that bounced around her head the entire day as she ran the register and reorganized racks and shoes. In recent years, her former friends usually wished her a happy birthday, but all she got for her eighteenth was radio silence. Expected, of course, considering everything she had done to them, but it still stung deep down, despite the number of times she told herself she didn’t care. 

It didn’t help that while she worked that day, she couldn’t stop thinking about the brand new iPad sitting in her bag back in her room, still hardly touched. 

The gift, if she could even call it that, didn’t make much sense, but what was Catra supposed to do with it? Part of her had wanted to throw it the day she got it, out of pent up anger and frustration. It seemed like nothing more than Adora once again displaying how wealthy she was now that she had a rich family, how much better off and happier she was now that she was out of the home. If a few hundred dollars was nothing to Adora, then it would mean nothing for Catra to destroy the offering. But then again, Catra wasn’t an idiot. She knew that she needed that iPad, for both her sanity and for her work. She did plenty of art with brushes and pencils and pens, even enjoyed the traditional form more than digital at times, but there was something about digital art that drew her attention and her heart. Plus, with so much of her schoolwork being accessible only online, it was a valuable item to her. Continuing to use the school’s laptops left a sour taste in her mouth; technology no matter how wealthy the school was always shitty and outdated. 

So she decided to keep the iPad. It was one of the newer versions, and had twice the amount of storage space on it than her last one, which she had purchased off of eBay, and despite the short amount of time she had had with it, she was already in love. 

Fine. Adora had more money than her and was more privileged; maybe she enjoyed flaunting her good fortune. Catra accepted that as fact. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t quietly fawn over something just because it was Adora’s (or rather, her aunt’s) name on the receipt. But she wasn’t going to think of it as a birthday gift. Adora probably didn’t even remember her birthday; it was purely coincidental. 

What didn’t make sense to Catra was why Adora would go out of her way to get the device to Catra. She had most likely dropped the iPad off in her locker early that morning, and according to her teammates, Adora was going to be gone that day because she was off touring some college. For someone who Catra had thought enjoyed their good fortune and wasn’t shy about sharing it, it confused her as to why Adora didn’t make a big scene about giving her the iPad. No grand gesture, no chasing after her following detention and apologizing profusely. Just a simple note torn from a notebook in that sloppy chicken scratch Adora called handwriting. It had seemed so...personal. 

And thinking about it too much made Catra uncomfortable. 

* * *

Another day, another freezing two hour long walk home from school because Lonnie didn’t wait for her. Sometimes, if it were Kyle or Rogelio’s turn to drive, they took pity on her and kept the car running for an extra five minutes before Lonnie grew impatient. If her roommate had acted like this two months ago, Catra would’ve blown up on her out of pure anger. Now, she accepted her fate, knowing she deserved to trudge home whenever Lonnie drove, muscles exhausted from shaking so much. 

Today especially was a real lip-curler. Whenever it rained in the fall or winter, people tended to look outside all day from the safety of indoor heating, eyes filled with dread when it would be time to go out in that wet, dreary environment that was akin to Satan’s fingertips. Today was no different, and Catra couldn’t help but roll her eyes every time she heard someone mention the weather or saw someone glance out a window with pursed lips. Most of them had vehicles that were parked right outside the school in one of the main parking lots. Nice vehicles, too. She highly doubted there was a large population of walkers or bikers to Bright Moon. 

Now, she curled in on herself, thin jacket wrapped tightly around her body, as she took the long trek home. She moved at a slightly faster pace than normal, partially because she was eager to make hot tea and surround herself with her bedding, and partially because she had a ridiculous amount of homework that night. She was thankful that she wasn’t scheduled that afternoon; if she had been, she would’ve no doubt had a breakdown. The sooner she got home, the sooner she would be warmed up and be able to get her work completed. 

“Hey, Catra!” 

Catra felt her body tense, and not from the bone-racking cold. This wasn’t what she needed right now. Turning her head slightly to see where the source came from, her suspicions about the bubbly voice that always seemed to be on the verge of laughter were confirmed. There was Glimmer Fukuhara, in all her gleaming white Jeep glory, slowing down to drive alongside Catra. 

Catra scowled and shifted the bag on her back. Glimmer did not take the hint. 

“Hey, do you need a ride home?” 

Catra gave her a look. “Aside from the fact that you are going below the speed limit and not paying attention to the road in a school zone, you are the last person that I would ever accept a ride from. So why don’t you just screw off?”

“Ooh, I’m so scared,” Glimmer shot back, though she did return her eyes to the road so she wouldn’t hit something. What was it with Jeep owners and being bad drivers? “Listen, I know that you have a stupid curfew or a specific time you have to be home, and that you’re like crazy smart and in all the smart people classes, meaning you have a lot of homework.”

Catra kept her gaze on the sidewalk. The cold was beginning to warm up to her, now that she thought of it. 

“You can stop being proud for twenty minutes, you know,” Glimmer continued. Lucky for her, the after school traffic had mostly cleared out, and there was no one behind her. “I won’t tell, or anything.”

It wasn’t often that Catra admitted her enemies were right and she was wrong. But...she did have a curfew, however the hell Sparkles knew about it, and there was her homework...and the Jeep was probably ten times warmer than what Catra was currently dealing with…

With a resigned groan, Catra turned around to see that Glimmer had already stopped, as though she knew Catra was going to change her mind. Little shit. 

She got into the car, and was not disappointed by the hot air blasting from the air vents. The interior was worse than the outside; it looked like a bubblegum monster had had sex with a bedazzler before proceeding to throw up and then die on the seats, the steering wheel, the flooring, even the cup holders. A long chain of inspirational quotes hung from the rear view mirror. And for fuck’s sake...were those LED lights surrounding the floorboards? Despite all the decor, the vehicle was a mess, the floor littered with food wrappers and water bottles and gallon jugs and other band supplies. Catra was overwhelmed by it all, and couldn’t help but think she should’ve expected this coming from Glimmer. To top it all off, Christmas music was playing from the speakers. It was literally early November. 

“Nice Jeep,” she commented, unable to keep the dryness out of her tone. There was something unsettling about the front seats, which had pink faux fur covers that matched the fluffy steering wheel. Catra sank into hers stiffly as Glimmer began driving again. Fur tickled the base of her neck. 

How had Adora gone from someone like her to someone like  _ Glimmer _ ? Catra almost smiled at the thought. 

“Thanks,” Glimmer replied, perky tone suggesting she didn’t pick up on Catra’s sarcasm. “Adora refuses to even step foot in here.”

Catra wondered why.

She frowned down at all the band gear, making sure to keep her feet a safe distance from what looked like a dirty tank top that had made the floor of the car its home. “Don’t you have band, or chess club, or something?”

Glimmer snorted. “Chess club? Do I look like a nerd?”

“You’re literally in band.”

“There are cool people in band.”

Catra didn’t believe it, but she was too tired to continue arguing. “Whatever. So why aren’t you there?”

They turned onto the main road with a little more jerkiness than Catra would’ve liked. She braced her arm on the door. “Marching season ended last weekend, so I finally have my life back,” Glimmer said simply. “Well, mostly. There’s still region auditions and...well, you wouldn’t care.”

Catra hummed in response. She really didn’t care, but what was left of her manners told her she should lie and say otherwise. But how could she continue the conversation? She didn’t know a single thing about band, and she and Glimmer weren’t exactly friends. In terms of music, she could play the guitar, and a little piano, and she had a decent singing voice, but it wasn’t like she ever cared to make use of those skills, and she couldn’t just tell that stuff to someone like Glimmer. 

Silence filled the space between them, which so happened to be a bedazzled armrest console. In the few minutes she had been in the car, Catra learned very quickly to never get in a car where Glimmer was behind the wheel again. With the way her speed was constantly changing and little things like not checking her mirrors and blind spots before switching lanes, it was a wonder how she even passed her test. Not to mention that her five-foot-nothing self was slouched so low in her chair with her left leg propped up, there was no way she could see over her furry steering wheel. Catra sat in a similar position whenever she drove, always resting her free foot up on the small ledge of the driver door (as any sane person would do), but she would never be practically  _ lying down _ . She was aware that she wasn’t tall, much to her chagrin, but Glimmer clearly didn’t. 

“Can I ask you something?” Catra said, interrupting Michael Bublé, as a thought bugged the back of her mind. She really would rather not dig up their history, as it consisted entirely of seeing who could lay the best insult, but she remembered how many sleepless nights she had spent recently thinking about her actions and all the people she had hurt, how long the list was; she was exhausted. 

“For a price.” At Catra’s frown, Glimmer chuckled. “I’m kidding. I do that sometimes, you know.”

“Oh...um, okay.”

“What did you want to ask?”

Catra worried at her bottom lip. There really was no other way to ask this other than, “Why are you being nice to me?”

Glimmer’s smile faltered, slowly morphing into a troubled frown. “What do you mean?”

“We’ve hated one another for nearly four years.” Catra swallowed. “I’ve been a bitch to you since freshman year, so why did you offer to give me a ride home?”

After a momentary silence, Glimmer shrugged. “I don’t know.” Then, with a sigh and a glance in Catra’s direction, she continued. “Maybe it’s because you acknowledge that you’ve been a bitch?” 

It was a weak attempt at humor, but Catra supposed there was some truth in there. She had always known she was a bitch, but that didn’t mean she ever said it out loud or let anyone tell her so. Admitting to it now was something she had never done before. 

“But you didn’t know that until now.” Catra traced a long nail between the faux diamond studs on the arm rest. 

“No,” Glimmer agreed shortly. “Listen, if I can be honest with you, do you promise not to blow up on me, or anything?” Catra blinked at her, a bit thrown off by the request. 

“Uh, sure.”

Glimmer reached forward and turned down the music, which was now Mariah Carey in all her Christmas-y glory. “Adora’s been talking about you,” she said plainly, though there was a tenseness to her voice that hinted she didn’t know how else to word it. 

Well, out of all the things she could’ve said, Catra expected that one the least. “What?”

“It’s...she’s just worried about you, I think.” Glimmer shook her head. “I don’t really know why. Bow and I, well, we try to stay out of her business when it’s about you because we don’t fully understand what...happened between you two,” she said this with a wary flicker of her eyes at Catra. “We’re there for her, of course, but we don’t push her to talk about anything unless she wants to.”

So what did any of this have to do with Catra? Last she checked, Adora hated her guts, wanted nothing to do with her. Catra had made sure of that. She had always figured that if she couldn’t convince herself that she truly hated Adora, then she could at least make Adora hate her. That would only solidify her own bitterness because she would have a motivation for her anger. Adora thinking about her,  _ caring _ about her, made about as much sense as the English language. 

“I still don’t understand.”

Glimmer exhaled softly. “She hasn’t talked about you like this since freshman year, and there’s something bothering her that involves you. I know about the whole iPad thing and all that, but it’s...more than that, I guess? She’s been acting differently since it happened, and she talks about you more than normal.”

“More than normal?”

“You two were friends for a long time,” Glimmer said matter of fact, the corner of her lip raising up. “Whether or not you like it, you impacted her life. She hasn’t forgotten about you.”

That got an eye roll out of Catra. “She seems to make it clear that I don’t matter to her anymore. Haven’t for some time. ” Despite her best efforts, she couldn’t keep the years old bitterness from her tone. 

“Do you really believe that?” Catra scowled at her, and she raised one hand from the steering wheel in defense. “No violence, remember?”

She sank back into the pink seat. To answer the question, no, she didn’t really believe it. Adora’s heart had always been too big for her own good. Even if she didn’t matter so much to her as a friend, she could still matter to her as a charity case. 

As if reading her mind, Glimmer pressed on. “Why would she spend weeks moping around and buying you a new iPad if she didn’t care about you?”

“You mean her aunt bought it?” Catra muttered, turning her gaze to the window. The streets of Etheria flitted by. In the distance, the sun was beginning to set, despite it not even being 5 P.M. yet. 

Glimmer snorted. “You really think Mara would spend that kind of money?” Catra turned her head back a little. What? 

“Aren’t they loaded?”

Another chuckle. “That’s not my business to tell, but I can guarantee you Mara didn’t pay for that iPad. Adora did, with her own money.” 

A weight dropped in Catra’s stomach. “But...what? How can she come up with that kind of money?” Distinctly, she thought of all the nice features that came with the device, the upgrades and unique touches, as well as the Apple Pencil. Even a well-off teen would have had trouble conjuring up that kind of money on their own, at least in a way that left money over after spending such a large amount. 

“I think she’s been saving up for a while.” Glimmer shrugged. “I don’t know if you knew, but she refs kids’ soccer games on the weekends sometimes, and I think she does some odd stuff for a little extra cash.”

“Does Mara pay for any of her stuff?”

“I’m sure she does, but Adora’s always been weird about letting others spend money on her. I don’t know where she got that from.” Catra had an idea. “Anyway...yeah. Just because you guys aren’t friends anymore doesn’t mean she stopped caring about you.”

Catra was still unsure, even after that last bit of information. There was no way, no logical, sane way, that Adora could still care about her. Feel bad, maybe, but care about her? Even when they had been friends, Catra had always believed she was more devoted to the relationship than Adora was, who was always busy with school or sports or pleasing Ms. Weaver. 

“Well, I think we’ve fought too much for that,” Catra sighed, slumping a little in her seat. “And I’ve been too much of a terrible person.”

They turned onto Catra’s street before Glimmer responded. “Just because you’ve made mistakes, it doesn’t make you a terrible person. You’re a terrible person if you don’t want to change, and you continue to do bad things because you enjoy it.” She paused. “Also, Adora and I argue all the time, but we’re still friends.”

Catra blinked. The glitter bomb and Miss Perfect not getting along? “Wait, really? I’ve literally never seen you guys in a fight.”

Glimmer snorted. “She’s so stubborn, and I admit, I hate being wrong, so the two don’t really mix that well.”

A small smile crept onto Catra’s lips. “I know what you mean.”

“Anyway, we don’t always get along, but at the end of the day, I still love her to death. And believe me when I say we’ve had some pretty big fights. Like, Bow refuses to involve himself anymore, and he’s the epitome of reason.”

They had arrived at the home, in all its dreariness. A ping of self consciousness shot through Catra’s body for a moment, knowing that Glimmer came from one of the wealthiest families in the town and could very possibly be judging where Catra grew up at that very moment. But then again...Adora had grown up here as well, and Glimmer didn’t seem to care about that. Maybe this sparkle queen wasn’t as bad as Catra had always thought. It only took her three years and a cold day to realize that.

“Hey, um,” Catra swallowed as she glanced back at Glimmer, “thanks for the ride. I really appreciate it.”

“No problem.” The smile Glimmer wore was 100% genuine. “And Catra?”

“Yeah?”

“It’s never too late,” she said gently. “No one can make you do anything, but it’s up to you to decide what will make you happy. Adora knows...I know that you have a good heart.” A small chuckle escaped her lips, and that sarcastic, verge-of-laughing voice Catra had grown used to returned. “I mean, Adora was friends with you at one point, right?”

Even she had to let out a short laugh, but her brain was still trying to process everything Glimmer, perhaps her biggest enemy behind Adora, was saying. “Yeah, well that’s because she’s an idiot.”

Glimmer gave her a look. “Adora may make a lot of mistakes, but she’s always had a good judgement in character. It wasn’t an accident she became friends with you.”

And then tears Catra wasn’t expecting sprung to her eyes, and she had to get out of there before she made a fool of herself. Coughing into her arm to cover up her sudden choked-up voice, she opened the door and clambered out. “Bye,” she managed over her shoulder, not daring to look back at whatever face Glimmer decided to show now. 

As she stumbled through the front door and up to her room, without so much as a hello or acknowledgement toward her housemates or guardian, Glimmer’s words rang over and over in her head. After all she had done...after all she put people through...someone like Glimmer, who Catra thought hated her guts, showed kindness to her, even made it clear that she was pretty much rooting for her. Which made...absolutely no sense. 

But she did know that she was tired. Looking in the mirror over her dresser, she saw a broken girl, and it made her sick. She didn’t want to live like this anymore. If she did, she wouldn't last very long.

Adora.

She had to make things right. 

* * *

Catra had never been so nervous inside a McDonald’s before. 

The night before, she texted Scorpia and asked if she wanted to meet up for food. They sometimes did this, even though Catra wasn’t a big fan of fast food. No matter where she went, it almost always seemed to upset her stomach, and she would be miserable for hours. So usually, she would munch on parts of Scorpia’s food, who always got more than she needed because of the fact Catra leeched off of her. 

Scorpia didn’t respond until morning, and just that simple “yes” was enough to boost her anxiety. 

It had been a few weeks since Catra blew up on her and Entrapta, who she still had no idea how to confront, so she was lucky to even get a response. Now, knee bouncing underneath the table, she was beginning to think that Scorpia blew her off. But that wasn’t like Scorpia, not even in the slightest. No matter how mad she got (which was never much), she always kept a promise. 

Honestly, how did someone like her get attached to someone like Catra?

Behind her and to the left, there were rambunctious children running around on the indoor playground. She had only been on one a couple times in her life, but she would rather keep those memories locked up and hidden far away in her brain. Just thinking about how many germs and stale fries were in those tubes made Catra shiver. 

“This seat taken?”

Catra jerked her head up, and there was Scorpia, a hesitant smile on her face and one red-nailed hand on the chair across from her. She shook her head quickly, and Scorpia sat, setting down a cold drink. 

“How...um, how’s it going?” Catra bit at the inside of her cheek, finding comfort in slight pain. 

Scorpia nodded slightly. “Good. How are you?”

“Good.”

They fell into silence, Catra flitting her gaze between Scorpia and outside the window and Scorpia watching the rowdy children with amusement in her eyes. Fuck, how was Catra supposed to do this? Scorpia was the talkative one among the two of them; she always started the conversations. 

“Thank you for coming,” Catra heard herself say. Scorpia turned her attention back to her, but Catra couldn’ t bring herself to look up. “Listen, Scorpia, you’ve always been a good friend to me. A great friend. Better than I deserve. And...and I’ve always treated you like shit on the bathroom floor. I’ve been...I’ve been—” Her voice got caught in her throat. Shit, she was  _ not _ about to cry in the middle of a Mcdonald’s. She still had some dignity in her. 

“A bad friend?” She looked up, lips parted, to see Scorpia still smiling, but now a bit more open like it usually is. That gentleness that Catra had always scoffed at, and was now grateful for. 

“Yeah,” she breathed, feeling a laugh escape her chest at the upfrontness of the statement, how unlike Scorpia it was. “A really, really bad friend. And I...I-I just want to apologize. For everything.” Again, her eyes flicked to the table, riddled with the crumbs of whoever sat here before them. She flicked at one half-heartedly. In front of her, Scorpia was quiet. “Anyway, that was um, that’s it. I just thought you should know.” Already, she was reaching for her jacket to leave, thrown over the back of her chair. 

But when she stood, she nearly ran into a broad shoulder. 

And then Scorpia was hugging her, squeezing the life out of her body and nearly lifting her off of the ground. “You know I’m a hugger.”

Though she wheezed a little doing so, Catra chuckled and covered a grimace with a smile. Even if she wasn’t very fond of physical affection, only ever being that comfortable with someone once before in her life, she let the hug happen. 

“So?” Scorpia asked with a new light in her eyes as they sat back down. 

“So?” 

“What’s been going on in your life?” she practically gushed, leaning forward with a grin on her lips. “I’ve been dying to text you, but I wanted to give you space, so instead I made a note on my phone of everything I was going to text you if you want to see it.” She was already reaching for her phone on the table, but Catra put a hand out to stop her. 

“You don’t have to do that,” she said with a shake of her head, partially because she wanted to know how Scorpia was doing and partially because she wasn’t sure if she could handle anything Scorpia may have said while Catra was avoiding her without feeling more guilty. “And I’d actually rather talk about you.” Scorpia blinked, clearly surprised, and set her phone back down. Catra felt her cheeks burn. “Um, how’s...how are your clubs? And your moms?” A starting point was better than nothing. 

She found herself smiling as Scorpia began talking with animated hands, telling Catra all about what she had been up to in the past few weeks. Honestly, it was nice getting to let her talk without interrupting once. Catra hadn’t realized just how much she had missed human interaction, how much she had missed Scorpia, until now. She had taken advantage of all of that before, had even snarled at it because she thought it was only going to hurt her. For the longest time, she had believed that everyone she met, even someone as friendly as Scorpia, would eventually cause her pain, so forming any solid, meaningful relationships was pointless. But here Scorpia was, welcoming her back into her life despite Catra not deserving it. Being hurt was still a terrifying thought, and Catra recoiled at the idea of actually trying to meet people, but Scorpia was a gentle reminder that it was worth the risk. And if Glimmer had spouted any truth the other day…

Maybe Catra could turn over a new leaf. 

* * *

Her childhood friends were next, though Lonnie was the least forgiving of the three of them. Rogelio had given her a pat on the shoulder accompanied by a nod, Kyle had been brave enough to smile at her, and Lonnie did nothing more than accept the apology with a frown and crossed arms, clearly not believing Catra’s words. And Catra was fine with that. She didn’t expect any of them to be as nice to her as Scorpia had been, so even getting just that was enough for her. It was hard to shake off her insecurities and old anger, but whenever she felt the need to yell or break something, she found a somewhat healthier outlet in taking deep breaths and walking away from whatever the situation was. That usually occurred at least once a day, but she had only lost it once so far, and she was quick to catch herself. 

One subject that was quick to frustrate her was Adora, ironically. Catra had decided to open the door for her that would somehow lead to whatever apology Catra could come up with (she was still working on the details, okay?), but Adora had instead ignored it. The other day, Catra had left her second period early and slipped out to get coffee without anyone noticing, knowing that Adora had been an avid supporter of caffeine since middle school. She could’ve only hoped that her poor choice in addiction hadn’t changed, and seeing as Adora drank the iced beverage during their third period in under twenty minutes, Catra guessed right. 

Since then, she had been trying to look for openings to talk to Adora, or get her alone, or anything that would maybe send the girl a sign that Catra wanted to apologize. When they were younger, they humored themselves with the idea that they were long lost twins with superpowers and could read the other’s mind. They had been so in tune with one another back then that they could practically finish each other’s sentences. Clearly, whatever connected they had had was now severed for good, as Adora was oblivious to Catra’s efforts. Even though it was just silly, meaningless child talk, Catra was a bit bummed out at the realization. 

After a few days following the coffee thing, Catra concluded that Adora was simply giving her the silent treatment. Every day since detention, she had been purposefully avoiding Catra. At first, Catra was grateful for the attempts (for once), but now it was just inconvenient. She wasn’t exactly the talkative type, not like Adora was, so if Adora gave her the cold shoulder, there was no way Catra could possibly come relatively close to trying to make things right between them. Or maybe not necessarily right, but civil? Just settle their complicated past and move on. 

Another thing that kept Catra from confronting Adora was that very thing: moving on. It terrified her. For years, she had been scared of truly letting Adora go, so instead of getting over her, she dealt with her emotions negatively. She knew that the best thing for the both of them would be for her to remove herself entirely from Adora’s life once an apology was stated, but she couldn’t find the courage to do it. 

Of course when she reluctantly brought all of this up to Scorpia on their way to second period, jeans sticking uncomfortably to her still-sweaty skin, she was no help in finding a solution for Catra. 

“I don’t get why you can’t just talk to her,” Scorpia said for the thousandth time in the past five minutes. “You know, I didn’t like her at first because of your feud, but she’s really not that bad. Once, we were paired for a partner quiz that I didn’t study for, and she was super, super nice about it.”

Catra sighed. “That’s exactly why I can’t ‘just talk to her’.”

“I’m not understanding.”

“Adora’s whole thing is being nice,” she explained as they turned down the side hallway to Scorpia’s English class. Catra hadn’t even known she was in English this semester, and they had always taken the route to her own classes before until today; she figured it was time for a change. “She literally can’t help it. And now she’s deliberately ignoring me, meaning I have no opening to talk to her.” She crossed her arms over her chest, hugging herself like it would provide some sense of security. 

Scorpia raised an unconvinced eyebrow. “It sounds to me like you’re just trying to avoid confrontation.”

“I am not,” Catra fired back immediately, flaring up in defense. Her body relaxed after a moment, shrinking back at Scorpia’s wide-eyed expression. “Sorry,” she mumbled, looking down at the ground. 

Before Scorpia could respond, they were interrupted by flower power. 

“Hi, Scorpia!” Perfuma greeted brightly, smile lighting up her entire face. It faltered a bit at the sight of Catra with her, confusion taking over. Catra lips tightened into what she hoped resembled a friendly smile. 

“Hey, Perfuma.”

“Catra.” Perfuma nodded, her smile slowly returning to its original state as she looked her up and down with that same expression she had on at the party months ago that had made Catra feel like she had been turned inside out for the world to see. It must’ve been some hippie thing. “Did you do the reading last night?” she asked, returning her attention to Scorpia, whose face was noticeably pinker than a minute before.

“What? Oh! Yeah, yeah, I did.” Scorpia gave a laugh. “It was so weird, right?”

Catra glanced down at her phone. She had a little less than two minutes to get to her class, and seeing as she no longer held Scorpia’s attention, any of it, in fact, now was her opportunity to slip away. With a tiny wave at Scorpia, who was now talking about whatever assignment with Perfuma, she turned to leave. 

“Oh, wait, Catra!” She turned her head to see Scorpia giving her a smile. “You can find a way to make it work. I have faith in you.” She always had. Probably more than she should. 

Catra shook her head a little, returning the smile, though maybe not as enthustiastic. “Bye, Scorpia.”

As she walked to her Bio class, where a purple-haired girl sat she still needed to make amends with, Catra thought about Scorpia and Perfuma. It was obvious that Scorpia was head over heels for the hippie, which was slightly funny considering the crush she had harbored for Catra for two years, who was the polar opposite of Perfuma. Catra knew about the crush, and Scorpia knew that Catra knew, but neither ever did anything about it. Truthfully, she had considered the possibility, but as cruel as she was, no,  _ had _ been, she wouldn’t have used Scorpia like that. She had never even felt the same way. With this new crush, it seemed as though she was over Catra, which was a bit of a relief. Plus, Catra couldn’t wait to interrogate her over it. Maybe she would ask about it on their way to fourth period later…

She still didn’t have a solution to her Adora problem. Maybe...maybe she was overthinking this. Maybe, if the universe was in a good mood, it would present her with the perfect moment to spring forward. Having a plan had always been Adora’s thing, anyway. Catra did best when she improvised and went with the flow. Dropping the idea that she needed a perfectly executed plan to get through to Adora wasn’t something she was fond of doing, but somehow, deep down, she knew letting it go was probably the best thing she could do. Instead of that, she would handle it in her own way, and simply hope for the very best. 

* * *

Adora should be relieved. 

She sat back in her desk chair, watching the celebratory screen-confetti float down her now submitted college application. Her eighteenth, and final, application, to be exact. Completing eighteen college applications in a matter of months was no small feat. Granted, she had started the process back in the summer to give herself some of a head start; she ended up knocking out the harder schools in that time. 

When people asked her how many schools she was applying to and she told them, they always looked at her as if she had grown a second hand. Adora never understood why. Most advised applying to no more than five or six, but that seemed way, way too risky to her. Plus, how was it possible to narrow down so many choices? There were all the in-state schools, of course, then the reputable out-of-state schools, then the ivy leagues, and then, of course, the safety net schools. Adora barely managed to narrow it down to her number of eighteen, with ten of them being in-state schools, three ivy leagues, one decent out-of-state school, three safety nets, and, of course, Eternia. She had little hope for the ivy leagues, as there was no fathomable way she could get into any of them with her academics (she was no Einstein, that was for sure), but the experts did advise applying to reach schools. 

With all eighteen finally completed, after hours spent hunched over essays, asking people for recommendation letters, giving said people gifts for writing the letters, perfecting her resume, making sure she had all the correct information on the applications and for financial aid, and much more, she should feel relieved at finally being done with that stressful part of her life. 

Except she wasn’t. 

Relieved was about the last thing on her mind at the moment. Sure, her applications were done, whoop-de-doo, but after the application step came a much, much worse step: waiting. Some colleges were nice and responded in a matter of weeks, some were normal and took a few months, and some outright found pleasure in making applicants suffer and wait an unnecessarily long time. Usually, the long-wait schools were the ones who had early deadlines, which Adora found stupid, to be frank. Eternia, naturally, was one of those schools. Although she had submitted that application first, all the way back in early July, she wouldn’t find out whether or not she got in until April at the earliest. 

And then after the waiting came the answers, and with the answers came the rejections. And that was something Adora was not looking forward to in the slightest. 

So she did what she did best and placed that stress with the rest of her worries in her mind, filed as unimportant. 

Maybe if she distracted herself, she could get away from the horrors of college. Except, Bow and Glimmer were busy, Adora wasn’t really in the mood to hang out with any of her other friends, and Mara was preoccupied with her own troubles in her office downstairs. There was always her grandmother; the thought made Adora smile. Razz was one of her favorite people in the world, but she was also an old lady who was slowly losing her memory, so not really the best candidate for acting as a distraction. 

On a good day, she would be found at the Bright Moon Animal Sanctuary down the road, where she got a deal of her volunteer hours in the spring. There was a horse there, Swift Wind, who had slowly made his way into Adora’s heart. The people who ran the sanctuary were nice, and they often let Adora and Swift Wind go on rides around the property or around the side of town that was still mostly country roads and forests. But she mostly went there in the spring, as she was far too busy in the fall every year, funny enough, so it wasn’t like she could just show up unannounced expecting to see her favorite horse. 

When she thought about it too much, she realized just how tense she had gotten since the start of the school year. Her nights were eaten up by homework, house work, and other duties, with little time saved for her friends because they were all busy, too; her weekends were much of the same. 

Just sitting there now at her desk, her head felt like it was the size of a hot air balloon. These days, nothing made sense at school. Every class, she went on autopilot, doing what a good student would do and taking notes and doing the homework and taking the quizzes and tests and then repeating it again. However, none of it was sticking, and she had found herself sitting at her desk with her homework in front of her for hours at a time just trying to understand a few questions that should’ve been easy to answer. It was difficult to tell whether or not this was just the stress that came with senior year or something else, but try as she might to get rid of it, it simply returned much harsher and unforgiving than before. Focusing on anything was a joke; she might as well just start taking naps during class with how productive she actually was. Sure, she got the work done, but it wasn’t like she actually benefited from doing it. Honestly, she was scared to check the grade book for her test scores, knowing in her heart that they weren’t where they should be, especially in a class like pre-calc where absolutely nothing made sense. Mara was never one to care about Adora’s grades as long as she showed she cared and was trying, so it wasn’t like Adora would be punished for her less than exemplary work. 

It was a very different life than the one she led in the home. If her grades were anything short of perfection, if she so much as slipped up even on a daily assignment, everything she cared about would be taken from her, and Catra would somehow face the true punishment. Ms. Weaver had never punished Adora severely in terms of hurting her directly, but she had known how close she was with Catra, how much the girl had meant to her, and often used their relationship like it was nothing more than a dirty bargain. If Adora did as she was supposed to do, she could continue being friends with Catra, and Catra would be safe from Ms. Weaver’s cold hands. If she didn’t, well...Adora didn’t really like to dwell much on the past. She was out of that place, with a family who actually loved her and friends who would support her to the end of the world. 

Thinking back to her aunt and grandmother, Adora could tell that they were worried about her. They always worried about her, but whenever she started focusing a little too much on one thing at a time, in this case, school, they were more obnoxious about it. Usually, they expressed their concern through offers of help and guidance and being extra nice to her, to which Adora rolled her eyes. It wasn’t that she wasn’t appreciative of their efforts, as they knew she didn’t like talking about her work load or preoccupations, she just wished that they wouldn’t treat her like some frightened, hurt animal who couldn’t defend herself. Adora didn’t need help; she needed to be left alone. 

Adora sighed, rubbing her eyes with the backs of her hands. Honestly, despite everything that had been going on in her life recently, the weirdest thing to come out of it all was Catra being civil toward her at school. After literally three years of being enemies and the whole incident with the iPad, Adora was sure that any chance of having a decent conversation with her ex best friend was slim. Yet, here she was, in the lovely month of November of her senior year, and Catra was actually being nice to her for once. 

Well, Adora wasn’t sure if she could classify it as nice, as nice was about the last word she would use to describe Catra. More like not glaring at Adora every five seconds. Whatever anger or bitterness she had was now replaced with an awkwardness that didn’t suit her typical demeanor, as though she were timid of the world around her instead of hating it. Adora remembered the coffee she had given her the other day, a surprise she still hadn’t been able to figure out. 

Since then, they had exchanged a few conversations during third period, and silently acknowledged one another during soccer in the mornings. Catra was always the one to initiate the conversations, which wasn’t like her in the slightest. Adora tried avoiding her, giving her what she wanted, but now Catra was being...not quite cordial, but also not cold like before. The conversations were always polite, too, void of any malice. Typically, they were about the weather or the latest news topic. Small talk, which Adora knew Catra hated. So far, the strangest thing to come out of it all was Catra showing everyone around her seat a funny video from TikTok. Adora wasn’t sure what to make of all of it, so she decided to not do anything or ask about it. 

It wasn’t just Adora who was experiencing this new shift in her old friend. Catra was hanging out with Scorpia again, or at least they held conversations at school. The last time Adora checked, Scorpia was avoiding the girl because, in her word, she needed space. Adora wasn’t close with Scorpia, but she was an insanely nice person who didn’t exactly know personal space, so if she was avoiding Catra, clearly something was wrong. She must’ve gotten the space she needed, since they were buddies again. Normally, Adora wasn’t a gossiper or a nosy person, but she had to restrain herself from asking about what happened between the two. 

And when she brought it up to Bow and Glimmer, they had just shared a look and shrugged, which wasn’t suspicious in the slightest. And it definitely wasn’t cause for concern when Glimmer was the one who suggested that maybe Catra had turned over a new leaf. Glimmer, of all people. 

Whatever the case, Adora had other things she needed to worry about, strange as this whole thing was. Frankly, her life nowadays was full of surprises, so this shouldn’t be new to her. It was just...it didn’t make any sense. It upset her thinking about how she didn’t know Catra as well as she thought she did, three years of fighting or not, and it made her downright nauseous when the only solution she could come up with to Catra’s ever-changing moods was to ignore her. 

Adora still cared about Catra; there was no doubt about that. And Catra had asked her to leave her alone. Whatever this was...Adora felt the only way to go about it was to do exactly what Catra had asked unless she said otherwise. 

Adora had already made the first move many times before over the last three years and only succeeded in hurting herself. If this was some new leaf like Glimmer suggested, then Adora would stay away from it. 

After all, in the past, she only ever made things worse. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We’re in part 2 baybee!!!
> 
> Not gonna lie, i had fun writing this part, especially scenes like the awkward ride home with glimmer (honestly, her car is goals, well minus the trash inside). Catra cried in a McDonald’s, so she’s hit her lowest point (joking,,,kind of,,,she did hit her low point but NOT in the McDonald’s). I kinda like to think that Glimmer, one of her worst enemies, slapped some sense into her and her “whatever should i do?” sulking, like in the show. There’s just something pretty amazing about that, I think. Yeah, in the end it was Catra’s decision whether or not she wanted to change, but Glimmer kinda helped steer her in the right direction, instead of continuing to watch her stumble around blindly. Anyway. 
> 
> I’m also a huge band nerd, in case i haven’t already said that (idk honestly lmao), so writing scenes where band is mentioned even once instantly become my favorite. Band was an important part of my high school career, and I was going to march and play in college until COVID ruined a lot of things, so maybe next year? Idk, it’s kinda nice not having that responsibility. I definitely still play my flute though, and have a huge appreciation for music, which is what’s important! 
> 
> I want to say that the conflict is resolved, except we all know it’s not. Both with Catra’s issues and now,,,*cough cough* adora’s:) outside of just their own wacky relationship, they have a lot of problems of their own that they need to work through, and some of them do tie into the core issues of their previous friendship (once again, like in the show!). So now that we’ve kinda dealt with Catra’s problems, well, I’ll just let yall see!
> 
> I’m on break right now until early January, and I have some college related stuff I need to work on (transfer application WOOOOO!!!!), but I’ve set aside a lot of time for writing. I’m not saying I’ll have the next chapter up before I return to school, but you never know...
> 
> As always, I’m a slut for commentary of any kind, and you can find me on tumblr, emybain, or my she ra side blog, adorascake! I’m pretty active on both blogs, and love interacting with people! I DO have anon on for my asks in case any of y’all want to confess your love for me *blows kiss* 
> 
> Thanks for reading!!


	8. Part 2: Tentative Relationships

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my beta left a lot of comments stating how gay this chapter was while reading it so enjoy (*blows a kiss to leigh*)

“ _ Oh, Adora! Please end my suffering and marry me so I can show you how much bigger of a douchebag I am!” _

_ Adora watched Catra’s dramatics with raised eyebrows. This was why she should’ve just thrown out the letter Colin slid into her locker before Catra had the chance to swipe it away. And now here they were, walking home from school, a whole fifteen minutes after Catra read the letter, and she showed no signs of stopping.  _

_ “Shut up.” Adora rolled her eyes and pushed Catra lightly. “He’s not that bad.” _

_ Catra gave her a look filled with something that made Adora blush and turn away. “He’s a thirteen year old oaf. Of  _ course _ he’s bad, dumbass.” When Adora didn’t answer immediately, Catra’s tone softened, almost...almost bordering something akin to fear. But Catra was never scared, not of stupid things like this, so Adora must’ve imagined it. Wanted it, maybe. “You don’t...you don’t like him, do you?” _

_ “Of course not!”  _

_ And that quiver in Catra’s voice that Adora must have imagined was gone. “Good. Because you’re way out of his league.” _

_ “Oh?” Already, a tease was building beneath the smirk now on Adora’s lips. Catra seemed to realize what she had said right before Adora got a chance to execute it.  _

_ “Boys are dumb at this age,” Catra pressed, shoving Adora with her shoulder. “Every single person in the world is out of their league, so don’t start thinking you’re special.” _

_ Adora held up her hands in defense. “I mean I didn’t - I didn’t say anything.” Her smirk didn’t go away, though. “And who  _ would _ be in my league, Catra?” _

_ She wasn’t sure what kind of answer she was expecting, possibly secretly hoping for, but she still deflated when Catra spoke after a long moment. “Someone with a forehead bigger than yours,” she grumbled, tearing her eyes away from looking Adora up and down.  _

_ Adora glanced ahead of them, where their friends were at least twenty feet away. They had really fallen behind. “Hey,” she said, taking the risk and looping her and Catra’s arms together. Catra scowled, but didn’t pull away. She knew what this was really about, and it had nothing to do with Catra simply finding it funny to tease Adora about people that had crushes on her. The teasing, as they both knew, was a defense mechanism. “You know you’re my best friend, right?” _

_ Catra grunted, not meeting her eyes.  _

_ “Well, you are.” Adora gave her arm a little squeeze. “And that means that you’re stuck with me, and no one can change that. Not even a smelly, nose-picking, obnoxious boy.” After a moment, she remembered something one of her volleyball teammates had said. “Hoes before bros.” _

That _ got a laugh out of Catra, returning the smile to her face. Adora’s cheeks warmed. “You’re the biggest idiot I know.” _

_ “Your idiot,” Adora said, ignoring just how hard it was to speak all of a sudden.  _

_ Catra’s radiant grin betrayed the shake of her head. That, and the way she pulled Adora just a tad bit closer, arm tightening around her. “Whatever.”  _

* * *

Mr. Brian’s class may have been the only one Catra looked forward to during the school day, but not even he had the power to make aggregate demand and aggregate supply interesting, try as he might. Like most teachers, he had little things that he nerded out over, and the shifting of curves was apparently one of them, judging from his slow build up and rant about how cool it was. When no one in the room reciprocated his excitement, he just rolled his eyes and dismissed them with his hand, muttering under his breath about how their generation was brainwashed by technology good naturedly. 

Catra, of course, split her time between jotting down notes and working on a piece on her iPad. Her portfolio for college was already completed and submitted, a mixture of both pieces she did digitally and traditionally, so that stress was over at least, and she could work on new pieces. 

This one was just something to pass the time in class, but Catra had accidentally gotten slightly carried away. What was supposed to just be a rough sketch had now become much more complicated. She was far from done, and seeing as they only had about a half hour left of class and she had spent the past hour working on it, she could use the next few days to continue perfecting it. There was nothing special about the piece, just a woman alone in a forest full of big trees that created a fairytale vibe. After some debating, she decided to change the woman’s attire to match the setting around her, even giving her face and body non-human characteristics like wings. 

It was a far cry from the kind of art she used to make back in her angstiest teen years, which was all black and death and destruction and pretty much depressing as shit. Nowadays, Catra drew whatever popped into her mind, not really having a theme. It was more about giving her fingers something to do and a way to step away from the world. Art was frustrating at times, yes, but she could control it and make it her own. No one could come in and ruin it. If something wasn’t to her liking, she could modify it until she was satisfied. 

She supposed that was why there was a history of artistic people with issues they couldn’t control on a canvas or whatever art form they pursued. She had been drawing and painting since she was young, though her art back then consisted of doodles on homework pages and the scratches still ingrained in the wooden bunk bed she once shared with Adora. It had always been a sort of distraction for her, an escape from reality, and now, it was simply a part of her that she was almost positive would never vanish. There was security in that belief, as well as stability, things Catra had struggled with her entire life. From what few memories she had of her childhood before the home to Adora, consistency wasn’t something Catra was familiar with. Art was the blanket that shielded her from the cold of the outside world, from abandonment and broken promises. 

Beside her, there was an annoyed huff and then the sound of an eraser furiously rubbing at paper. Catra looked up from her iPad. Adora was hunched over a pile of papers on her desk, leaning on her dominant arm and staring a hole into them. There was no sign of the laptop she usually had out during class, and judging from the way her brow was furrowed in concentration, she was definitely not taking notes on the papers. Catra watched her for a few minutes from her peripheral vision (so as not to look like a total creep), and Adora’s frustration only grew. A couple times, she twitched, as though finally thinking of what she needed, then froze and sighed, shaking her head a little. 

They were close enough that Catra could see what she was working on if she just tilted her head the right way. Ah, precalculus. It made sense; Adora had always struggled in the math department. Catra pushed down a fond smile as she remembered the countless hours she had spent helping Adora with her math homework in middle school. She used to bask in the fact that there was something in the world she was better at than Adora, perfect, straight-A Adora. Now, she only felt a twinge of pity for the girl, who was clearly struggling and looked as though she wanted to rip her papers to shreds. 

After pulling up her calculator and imputing the numbers from the word problem, Catra leaned over, not really sure what compelled her to whisper, “Four times the square root of three.”

Adora jumped in her seat, frowning at Catra with wide eyes. “What?” she hissed, frazzled at being caught not taking notes. 

Catra raised an eyebrow and nodded to her paper. Adora looked down at it and blinked, then back up at Catra. “The answer,” Catra explained in a hushed tone. “It’s four times the square root of three.” A pause. “And the unit is feet.” At Adora’s still-blank face, mouth open, Catra sighed. 

“It’s just the law of sines.” Pulling up her notes app, she quickly sketched out the trigonometric word problem and angled her iPad for Adora to see, not noticing the way Adora’s cheeks were now visibly red. “See? It helps to draw a picture.” 

Adora chewed at her bottom lip, frowning. Catra saw the moment the lightbulb went off in her head, and almost smiled. “Oh.” She nodded, expression becoming sheepish. “I had the angle of depression and elevation mixed up.” Returning to her homework, she worked quickly, and sure enough, had the problem solved in less than two minutes. She shot Catra a smile, though it was laced with confusion. “Thanks?”

The corner of Catra’s lip quirked up. “No problem.” The boy in front of her, whose name she hadn’t bothered to remember despite sitting behind his Minecraft- playing ass all semester, turned his body and shushed them. Whatever ghost of a smile Catra had on her face vanished, replaced by what Scorpia liked to call her “death stare.” His eyes widened and he stammered out a hushed apology before going back to his game. 

Noticing how Adora was still looking at her, amusement now pulling her lips higher up, Catra rolled her eyes. “Shut up,” she grumbled. 

After that, she tried to return to her piece, but every time Adora came across a problem that had her sighing and anxiously jiggling her leg, Catra couldn’t help but glance over and solve it for her, sometimes offering a short explanation. Eventually, Adora was not-so-subtly watching her, waiting to catch her attention so Adora could tilt her homework for Catra to see. 

That was how class went that day. As the bell rang and Catra packed up, she realized with a start that that was the most she had spoken to Adora since they worked on the project together. Nothing was forced, nothing was awkward. It was almost like they were back in middle school, with Catra helping Adora understand math in a way her brain could understand; it came naturally. 

Maybe Scorpia was right. 

“Thanks for…helping me earlier.” Catra looked up from her bag at Adora, who was still gathering her papers. 

She slung her pack over her shoulder. “Sure,” Catra replied, the word sounding awkward and forced. She cleared her throat. “When’s that due, anyway?”

Adora paused, hand over the folder she had labeled PRECAL in careful calligraphy. A blush tinged her neck as she said, “This morning,” in a much quieter, almost ashamed, voice. “I just...forgot about it, I guess.”

That surprised Catra, knowing how precise and on top of things Adora always was, but she didn’t press on it. Instead, she hummed in acknowledgement and turned to leave. 

But Adora was caught up with her before she was halfway across the room. “So...where are you headed?” she asked slowly, as though she was nervous. Catra couldn’t blame her. 

“Um, calculus,” Catra replied, ignoring the way Mr. Brian was definitely eyeing them from his desk. No doubt he still didn’t trust either of them, mostly her, after the project. She felt her neck heat up. “You?” 

They left the classroom side by side, and Catra couldn’t help but notice the familiarity in this small act, how she walked to the right of Adora like she once did years ago. They were in a different building now, with hallways much nicer and cleaner than the ones Catra remembered, but the feeling was all the same. 

“Home.” Adora paused. “Well, I actually have to go by...run a few errands, but then I’ll go home.” 

Again, Catra gave no answer, just nodding and doing her best to not notice the glances they got from random passersby every now and then or how Adora waved at more people than Catra knew as they walked. 

The journey to her calc class was short, but Adora continued to stay beside her even though neither spoke. Catra supposed since Adora didn’t have a fourth period, she didn’t have to worry about the ten minute passing period. 

She looked at Adora out of the corner of her eye. It was obvious she was only half paying attention to her surroundings from the way she was chewing anxiously at her bottom lip and staring straight ahead. Catra could practically hear the thoughts going through her head. 

With a sigh, Catra opened her mouth. “Listen, if you needed some help with math...I could help you. So, you know, you can actually turn your stuff in on time.”

Adora’s eyes widened as she came back to the present. “Wait, what? Wh-why… why would you do that?” There was an underlying tone to her voice, like she didn’t trust that Catra was being honest. Frankly, Catra wasn’t sure if she trusted herself completely either; she didn’t even know where the offer came from. 

“Well,” Catra wracked her brain for answers, “if you knew what you were doing, you’d stop distracting me in class, for one.” She paused. “And I could always use a little extra money.”

A blush tinged Adora’s cheeks. She tore her eyes from Catra’s. “Sorry, I...I didn’t know I was that distracting.”

Oh. Oops. Maybe Catra’s tone was a bit harsher than she intended. She cursed herself inwardly. “No, I...um, it’s fine. I was just joking. You’re not distracting.”  _ Not in the slightest. _

They reached Catra’s stop, so she turned and leaned her shoulder against the wall just outside the door. Adora came to a halt as well, glancing over Catra’s shoulder at the still relatively empty classroom. 

“Oh, okay.” Adora pressed a smile onto her lips, and Catra couldn’t help her eyes from flitting down at them. She covered it up by taking a sudden interest in the carpeting on the floor. “Uh, I guess—oh hey!” For a moment, her smile brightened as her attention turned to someone passing by them. Catra recognized the girl from soccer. “I’ll let you know,” she said once the girl was gone. “But, uh, thanks for the offer. That’s...really nice of you.” 

“Sure.” Catra nodded, maybe a bit too enthusiastically. God, she was just hellbent on embarrassing herself today, apparently. After an awkward moment of silence, she pushed herself off the wall. “Well, I should probably go...study my notes before class starts.” Once again, she kicked herself mentally. 

Adora smiled that same annoying yet stupidly dazzling smile, the one that did unfair things to Catra’s stomach. “Right. I’ll see you later?”

“Uh, yeah.” 

As Adora straightened and moved past Catra to go back down the hallway they’d come from, their shoulders brushed. It was light, and so fleeting that she almost missed it. 

She had a difficult time focusing in calc that day. 

* * *

Adora texted her at one in the morning. 

After a shift that never seemed to end, Catra was on her bed with pages of homework spread out before her. She was currently enjoying a cup of instant ramen that she had bought from the grocery store next to her job on her break (best decision ever) and half listening to  _ The Office  _ playing from her phone’s earbuds as she powered through her homework. Across the room, Lonnie was fast asleep, so she did her best to stay quiet, even turning out the lights and working from the light of her lamp so she didn’t disturb her roommate. Lonnie was still wary around her, and Catra was doing whatever she could to limit the amount of glares she received on a daily basis. 

Only when she noticed a notification pop up over her show out of the corner of her eye did Catra finally tear her dry, strained eyes away from her homework (FRQs were the absolute worst). She was the only person she knew that stayed up this late, other than Entrapta, and Entrapta wasn’t one to text first, so she assumed it was just spam, or Scorpia after waking up from a bad dream. But it was Adora, of all people. 

Catra pulled up the conversation, which she hadn’t spared a glance since the project, Her homework sat abandoned on the blanket

**Adora:**

_ are you still offering tutoring?  _

  
  


Catra had to blink a few times to recall their conversation from earlier that day. 

**Catra:**

_ yeah _

_ why are u up? isn’t it past your bedtime? _

The response was immediate. 

**Adora:**

_... _

_ i might need your help _

The emoji she sent caused Catra to snort. The puppy dog eyed face was probably the most Adora emoji of all of them. 

**Catra:**

_ after hours are going to cost u extra  _

**Adora:**

_ then send me ur venmo  _

_ now HELP me _

Adora sent a photo of a few questions, all bearing the scars of her past work that was now erased. In the corner of the photo, her thumb was just barely showing. In minutes, Catra had them solved. She sent her work back to Adora along with short explanations. When she received no reply, not even the little dots to indicate she was forming a response, Catra sent another text. 

**Catra:**

_ does that make sense? _

After another minute, Adora finally responded. 

**Adora:**

_ yes  _

_ i think _

_ actually no i lied im clueless _

Catra let out a sigh, typed out a quick message, inspected it, retyped it, hesitated, then finally pressed send. 

**Catra:**

_ i’ll be at the school early tomorrow if u want an in-person explanation _

_ id try to explain it more now but im kinda busy and i dont trust my words rn _

**Adora:**

_ okay! _

_ oh SHIT its 1am _

_ fuck _

_ i guess ill see you tomorrow? what time? _

**Catra:**

_ 7:15?  _

**Adora:**

_ sounds good! _

_ sorry for distracting you:(  _

_ goodnight! _

**Catra:**

_ bye adora _

After staring at her phone for a minute, Catra shut it off and tossed it in front of her, where it landed on her bedspread with a muffled thud. That was probably one of the most absurd conversations she had ever held. Besides the fact that Adora had texted her at such an un-Adora hour, she had been weirdly chipper. Catra remembered when they were younger, Adora tended to get a little silly if she didn’t get enough sleep or stayed up past her bedtime. Maybe she had never grown out of that. The thought was almost endearing.

She suddenly remembered that she didn’t send Adora her payment info, but that was alright. The money would be nice, but she wasn’t doing this to make a little extra cash. Not after Adora had already spent so much on her. 

With a heavy sigh, Catra returned to her dreaded homework. 

* * *

It was weird being back in the library with Adora, especially in the study rooms. They managed to make a lot of progress in the forty five minutes they had before they had to go get changed. Besides the homework from the night before, Adora pulled out notes from previous lessons and asked dozens of questions about the unit circle, trigonometric equations, sine, cosine, tangent, and quite literally everything they had been taking notes over for that unit. 

“Wait, so the unit circle  _ doesn’t _ go away?” Catra had to hold back a smile at the dismayed look on Adora’s face, like a kid that wasn’t allowed to pet the cute puppies at the pet store. She chose to tear her eyes away from her and doodle on the corner of her scratch paper. 

“Never. It’s better to have it memorized, honestly.” At Adora’s bugging eyes, Catra continued. “But I don’t think they’ll make you do that. We didn’t back—” She stopped herself, nearly saying  _ back at Horde _ , and shook her head. She wasn’t ready to bring up that old wound, and wasn’t sure if she ever would be. Right now, she just wanted to apologize and make up with Adora, and this tutoring seemed to be her window of opportunity. She wasn’t looking to be friends again, or anything, anyway, so reopening old wounds was just a waste of time. “Back when I was in that class.”

They continued to talk on their way to the locker room. Well, it was more Catra ranting about math and Adora trying to keep up. Catra tried to go at a slower pace so that Adora could process the information, and she always asked if Adora was ready for her to keep talking. 

The questions didn’t stop, even as they were donning their athletic gear and going through warm ups. Once again, Catra pretended not to notice the stares from their teammates and coaches whenever they took a water break and there was Adora right beside her. 

Catra didn’t really understand how it was almost like a flip had switched. Just days before, she had been agonizing over how to get Adora to even look her way, and now, Adora didn’t seem to be looking anywhere else. It was like...she had been waiting for Catra to be the first to talk, but that didn’t make any sense. Adora wasn’t exactly the kind of person to wait around for others to do something before her. 

Soon, Catra found herself interacting with Adora almost every day. At first, it was just once or twice, like a text message or question before the third period bell rang about math. They agreed to meet Wednesday mornings for tutoring, like they had for the project, and even though Catra insisted on Adora not giving her any money, she still noticed the five dollar bill being slipped into the side pocket of her bag every now and then. It was frustrating, but Adora was still the most stubborn person she knew, so she would just have to figure out a way to give it all back without her noticing. 

It didn’t take long for a sort of amiable relationship to develop, though it was awkward at times and strictly stayed within the school building. Adora would crack a joke, causing Catra to snort; Catra would silently raise her hand in Brian’s class as a privileged white boy on the other side of the room went off on a topic he clearly knew nothing about. Then, when it was her turn to speak, she would hand him his ass on a silver platter, and Adora would give her a thumbs up with a wicked smile once she finished proving him wrong. Some days, when Scorpia wasn’t there to walk with Catra between periods,, Adora filled that space, typically when they were heading to Catra’s fourth period. For the most part, they kept those conversations school related, but every now and then, Catra had caught herself getting off track, and would have to steer the subject back to safe territory. 

“Why are sine, cosine, and tangent so important, anyway?” Adora grumbled one day as Catra worked out a problem from her perch on Adora’s desk. Even though the bell had rung, Mr. Brian was engrossed in a debate with some students over where the best restaurants were in the city, so the two of them didn’t stop their conversation. Get that man talking about food, and he was sure to never stop. 

Catra shrugged. “They serve some functions in the real world.”

“Yeah, to piss people off.” 

“You mean people like you?” Catra smirked, enjoying the reaction she got out of Adora, who maturely stuck her tongue out and sunk lower in her seat.

“Normal people,” she corrected, with a particular glare (void of any real malice) at Catra. “Not all of us are math nerds.”

Catra lowered her iPad and scoffed. “I’m not a math nerd.”

“Yes you are.”

A spark kindled in Catra’s belly at the unspoken challenge. So that was how it was going to be. “There’s a difference between math coming easy to you and getting aroused just thinking about complex fractions.”

Adora’s lip curled up. “So you’re admitting to be sexually attracted to fractions?”

“You’re ridiculous.” Catra rolled her eyes and turned back to her iPad. Adora was the one who shoved her latest homework paper at Catra that afternoon, yet here she was, trying to start something.

“What would you call that?” Adora continued as though Catra hadn’t even spoke. She hummed and pulled out her phone, typing away quickly. “Damn, I can’t find anything other than a math fetish.” She paused, then snorted to herself. “Mathosexual.”

Catra sighed. “That’s the best you can come up with? God, you’re such a weirdo.”

“I’m not the one with an uncommon fetish.”

“I don’t—” She cut herself off with a groan, but couldn’t help the smile that tugged at her mouth. 

They continued to bicker like this for a few minutes, throwing meaningless insults at each other and joking like a couple of middle schoolers who just got past the human body systems unit in their science class. It was when Adora lightly pushed at Catra, causing her to lose her balance and get up from her perch to keep from falling, when a throat cleared. 

They looked up at Mr. Brian, who was narrowing his eyes at them from the front of the room. Though most of the class was still distracted by their own conversations, a few had glanced over at the two of them. 

“Is everything alright over there? Grayskull? Weaver?”

Behind Catra, Adora covered a snort with her hand, but it did little to muffle the unholy sound. “Yeah, Mr. Brian. Everything’s great,” she said, failing to keep a giggle from escaping her mouth. 

Catra brushed herself off, biting the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling. “Yeah, definitely.”

She returned to her seat after that, avoiding the incredulous stare coming from their teacher and about half the class. What she couldn’t avoid, however, were the stolen glances between her and Adora as class drove on, the clearing of throats and coughs to cover up snickers. Eventually, though, Catra stopped returning the looks as reality set in. 

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to be friends with Adora. Well, she actually wasn’t really sure. She hadn’t set out to regain that, and she was almost positive Adora wanted nothing to do with her other than help with math. Besides that, Adora was too nice for her own good. During the three years they weren’t friends, she had been mostly civil toward Catra, something Catra couldn’t say was reciprocated. 

Catra had been horrible to her, and horrible to countless others that didn’t deserve it. There were things that she could never take back, both actions and words that would forever be carved into their history. 

She didn’t expect friendship out of this. She wasn’t even sure if she wanted forgiveness; after everything she had done, she certainly didn’t deserve it. All she needed to do was apologize and mean it, and then prove that she was no longer that same person. How she was going to do this, Catra had no idea. But tutoring Adora seemed to be somewhat of a first step. 

Other than the fact that she didn’t deserve Adora’s friendship, Catra was scared. She was terrified of getting hurt again, of hurting  _ herself.  _ Even though she didn’t want to be the person she used to be, she still felt jealousy and anger toward multiple people, and that included Adora. In fact, Adora was still high on the list of people who she once believed were responsible for all her pain, before she realized that she was her own enemy the entire time. 

Could she open herself up like that again? Be that vulnerable? It was different with Scorpia because...because it just was. Scorpia hadn’t been in Catra’s life long enough to really know her, not like Adora had. There would always be that barrier between them, where Catra never fully understood Scorpia, and Scorpia never fully understood Catra. But with Adora, there had never been any barriers. 

And without the barriers, there was nothing there to protect Catra when she attacked herself with years of self loathing, jealousy, never feeling like she was good enough, and anger with the world that she had been so sure was against her. 

It had happened before, more than once. She had barely made it through the worst time, so was it worth the risk when she didn’t even trust herself?

* * *

If it hadn’t been for Bow and Glimmer, Adora wouldn’t have left her house that day. But now, as she sat between Glimmer and Sea Hawk at the cafe, she was kind of glad they had dragged her out. Sure, everyone was working on something—whether it was school, college, or something not serious—but Adora was glad to be with her friends. Other than in classes and passing periods, she didn’t see them that much. There was the occasional hang out, and of course their big group chat, but really, she was pretty sure it had been months since the last time they were all together like they were now. It was nice, and while she was trying to catch up on her homework, the weight that had settled over her in recent weeks had temporarily vanished. 

She was laughing at a story Sea Hawk was telling (complete with voices and vibrant gesticulation) when the door of the cafe opened. She glanced over and had to do a double take when she saw Scorpia walk in, dragging Catra behind her. 

It was weird to see Catra outside of school, even though they had developed a sort of precal-induced truce in the past couple of weeks. Adora wasn’t sure if she would ever be good at a math subject, but working with Catra, who was amazing at reteaching the subjects to Adora and being patient with her, was improving her grade in the class. She had done better on the past three quizzes she had had than ever before, and she wasn’t on the brink of tears every night as she sat in front of her untouched homework. 

To respect Catra’s unspoken boundaries, they kept their meetings and conversations at school and over text, so seeing Catra outside of the typical school setting, dressed in clothes that broke the dress code  _ way _ more than  _ anything  _ she would typically wear was a whole new experience. Sure, she had seen Catra outside of school in the  _ past _ , but that was before Catra and other Horde students transferred to Bright Moon. Back then, Adora only saw her occasionally, and they mostly avoided one another. Now, Adora couldn’t help but gawk at Catra, whose attention was fortunately focused in a conversation with Scorpia. She couldn’t help but let her eyes fall to just below Catra’s sternum, inches above her exposed belly button, where what looked like a tattoo was peeking out beneath her crop top. Catra had tattoos now? 

Adora averted her gaze as she felt her stomach flip, and purposefully hid her (definitely red) face by leaning her temple on her hand. Not like it mattered, because Perfuma noticed them as well and waved Scorpia over. 

“Hey, Adora.” 

She nearly jumped out of her chair. Feigning a calm demeanor, Adora turned her head up and tried for a smile, but it just felt awkward. “Oh, Catra! Um, hi.”

Catra returned the smile, though it was tentative, and looked over Adora’s shoulder at the table. “Seriously? You’re doing homework on a Saturday?”

Adora blinked up at her, now trying to process the fact that Catra not only approached her, but she was teasing her in front of her friends. “I...I always do my homework on Saturdays,” she said, immediately feeling stupid. 

Catra hummed thoughtfully. “No, I know.” 

“So…” Adora racked her brain for any conversation subject, even if it was awkward, because she didn’t want Catra to leave just yet. It was kind of nice, seeing her like this. Relaxed (at least, you know, more that she normally was), casual, and seemingly friendly. “What are you doing here? I thought you worked Saturdays.”

Catra shrugged. “I do, but I got off a little early today.” Again, her eyes drifted to the table. “Oh, vectors? Those aren’t too bad if I remember correctly.” Adora nearly had a heart attack when she leaned forward to get a better look, not noticing Adora’s mini life crisis as she got in her personal space. She was close enough for Adora to smell her cologne. 

Adora swallowed the lump in her throat. “So far they’re not bad, but don’t be surprised if I text you later crying for answers.” 

A smirk made its way onto Catra’s lips as she leaned back a little, but still close enough for Adora’s flustered state to remain stagnant; Adora’s eyes fell to her lips before she could stop herself. “I’ll be waiting.” 

Before Adora got the chance to reply, they were interrupted by a cry of, “Catra! You have to order this soup! It’s amazing!” 

Adora looked up to see Scorpia hovering beside Perfuma, who was sharing the soup she had ordered. She felt a blush creep up behind her ears, not at whatever Scorpia and Perfuma had been inching towards over the last couple of months,, but because most of her friends were staring at her and Catra as though they’d donned oversized shoes, rainbow wigs, and fucked off into a half-sized European automobile. 

Catra noticed their audience as well and straightened, but not before Adora could catch the patch of red on her cheeks or the momentary scowl that crossed her face at the interruption. “Seriously? You know I don’t like soup.” Though she crossed her arms so as to appear annoyed, there was a lightness to her tone; she was teasing. 

“You eat cereal.” Scorpia smiled at her. 

“For the last time, cereal is not a soup.” Catra rolled her eyes good naturedly before returning her attention to Adora. “I, um, actually had a question about macro.” She pulled out her phone and placed it on the table, opening up her notes app. 

“So when Brian talked about the crowding out effect the other day…” Adora watched Catra draw a diagram, marveling at how neat it was despite the work space being tiny. She did her best to answer Catra’s question, and when she hesitantly asked to borrow the phone, Catra let her. Her work wasn’t as neat as Catra’s, but she blamed her shaky fingers on the cold air filtering in from outside, and ignored the way her stomach fluttered when Catra’s eyes stayed locked on hers as she spoke. 

“Ohhh.” Catra nodded slowly, zooming in on Adora’s finished work to examine it closer. “So, say, for example, the government decided to borrow a bunch of loanable funds, and then you go to the bank for a loan for...whatever.” She shrugged. “That would mean…?”

“The interest rate would be higher than normal,” Adora finished. “Since the government owns a large portion of the funds.”

Again, Catra nodded. “So then you and like, a bunch of other people looking for the same loan, wouldn’t buy whatever it is you need the loan for, since the rate is too high.”

Adora pointed at the last graph she sketched, which was just a model of what would happen because of the effect. “The demand for the product drops, and workers are laid off.”

Catra hummed thoughtfully, pocketing the phone after a moment. “Cool. Um, thanks.”

“No problem.” Adora flashed her a smile she hoped wasn’t awkward. 

She and Scorpia said hi to Entrapta, who was at the end of the table working on another one of her inventions, then as they passed by Adora once more to take a seat, Catra did something Adora never would have seen coming, not even in a dream: she greeted Glimmer, and it didn’t sound like an insult. 

Granted, she called her “Sparkles,” and made a lighthearted joke about the glittery clips in her colorful hair, but Glimmer didn’t seem to mind in the slightest. As for everyone else, Catra mostly avoided looking at them. 

After they left, Adora picked up her homework, shuffling it a little, and laid it back down neatly with a sigh. 

“Um, so are we just, like, not going to talk about what just happened?” Mermista raised an eyebrow, narrowing her eyes accusingly at Adora. Adora, however, was suddenly deeply interested in her sandwich, and missed the withering glare.

“What are you talking about, Mermista?” Glimmer asked, and even if Adora had no clue why she was showing kindness to Catra of all people, the backup was a relief. Questionable, but welcome all the same. 

Mermista groaned. “I’m  _ talking _ about Adora making goo-goo eyes at the person we all thought was a bitch, duh.”

Adora scowled at her. “I wasn’t making  _ goo-goo eyes _ at her!”

“Yeah, and Sea Hawk actually took the online fire safety class that the judge said he had to pass” Mermista said dryly, rolling her eyes. 

“We’ve just…” Adora’s eyes flitted to Glimmer and Bow, even though she knew they couldn’t help her out of this. “She’s been helping me with math, is all.”

“Oh, not chemistry?”

“Maybe,” Perfuma cut in, Adora’s saving grace, “Catra’s decided to let go of the negative energies in her system, and we shouldn’t judge her if she’s going down a new path.”

The table was silent. Adora waited for another tease or jab about her conversation with her enemy. Or, she supposed, her former enemy, but she didn’t want to hold onto the ‘former’ too firmly until she had more evidence. Adora really wasn’t exactly sure what they were right now. Catra seemed adamant to keep their relationship strictly school related, but old habits died hard, and it was so easy to slip into more interesting topics of conversation with her. Meaningless topics, for sure, but still holding all the importance of the universe. Every time Adora tried to push a little more, dig a bit deeper, Catra fell back and put up her defenses. 

She wasn’t going to be the one to push their relationship this time, despite how much she wanted to. In the past, it only ended in heartbreak and sleepless nights. It wasn’t that she didn’t want them to make up and be friends again. If Catra wanted to make something of their recent interactions—well, Adora wasn’t going to stop her, but she needed to know that Catra was willing to work for it. As much as she didn’t want to think of it, knowing it resulted only from her deep, selfish desires, Adora missed Catra. It had been difficult to entertain in past years because Catra had chosen to close herself off from Adora, and Adora had done nothing to try and fix things, but  _ now _ , with Catra smiling and holding conversations with Adora like old times, Adora couldn’t help but nurture that speck of hope that maybe… maybe things could be different. 

“Whatever,” Mermista said, breaking the silence to stab a french fry on her fork. “Believe what you want, but shitty people are incapable of change.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg i haven’t updated since last year!
> 
> Sorry i had to
> 
> I hope everyone had a safe and happy new year! I spent mine feeling tired all day and finishing up this chapter. Alsoooo working on a new project;) think celebrity au hehe (ive been talking more about it on my tumblr if you want to go check it out! It’s catradora centered and they’re both famous singers). 
> 
> Sooo how are we feeling about this chapter? I personally thought it was pretty lighthearted compared to some previous chapters, but I did that mainly because, well, i guess you’ll find out in the coming chapters...
> 
> I just really like the idea of catra tutoring adora! She used to help her in middle school because math has never been Adora’s strong suit, while it came very naturally to catra. Plus, catra is such a good tutor for her because she actually knows adora and knows what kind of teaching she needs to be successful. As for why she’s doing it, if anyone was wondering, she simply feels guilty for everything she’s done. Adora is one of the only people she doesn’t really know where to start on an apology, and quite frankly, she’s scared. There are still a lot of old wounds that haven’t been addressed, things they have done to one another that could be considered unforgivable. Catra’s convinced there isn’t a soul in the world who cares about her, so right now, she just wants to set things right after three years. She doesnt think that she deserves any friendships out of it. 
> 
> As for Adora, she tried over and over again throughout the years to regain Catra’s friendship, but Catra always said she wanted nothing to do with her. Adora only ended up getting herself hurt. Even when they were friends, it had been a toxic friendship hanging on by a thread (thanks shadow weaver!), and Adora overstepped Catra’s boundaries more than once. She’s worked so hard to be where she is now, and to respect Catra’s decision to not be friends anymore, so she’s decided that if Catra truly wants to be friends again, then she will have to be the one to initiate it. She really wants nothing more than to pull Catra into a hug and never let go, but she’s trying to respect Catra and let her make that decision. Plus, like Catra, she’s kinda scared about them being friends again. 
> 
> Anyway, just thought i would talk about that. They’re a mess, but they’ll work things out pretty soon, so don’t worry. 
> 
> I hope y’all enjoyed this chapter! I can’t believe I got it out within a month of the last update. I have another week still of break before I return to school, so who knows? I’m really looking forward to starting the next chapter;)
> 
> If you liked this, comments are appreciated and encouraged! Seriously, they make my day, no matter how long or short they are, and they give me motivation to write! I’m also on tumblr, emybain, or my she ra side blog, adorascake (no longer adoraspumpkin tho she will be missed hehe), literally all the time if you want to chat, send me asks, or just keep up with what i post! I post the occasional ask fic request, some edits, (in my opinion) hilarious text posts, and of course, I talk about projects like this! 
> 
> Thanks for reading!! <3

**Author's Note:**

> this is my love letter to the senior year i was robbed of and meant to have the energy of all the late 90s/early 2000s high school rom com movies but gay *kisses clueless and mean girls* 
> 
> projection level: 89.67% 
> 
> find me on tumblr, emybain, or my she ra side blog, adorascake! feedback is appreciated<3


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